SOME 
RECOLLECTIONS 


OF   OUR 


ANTISLAYEEY  CONFLICT, 


BY 


SAMUEL   J.   MAY. 


OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


BOSTON: 

FIELDS,    OSGOOD,    &    CO 
18G9. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1869,  by 

SAMUEL     J.      MAY, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


UNIVERSITY  PRESS  :  WELCH,  BIGELOW,  &  Co., 
CAMBRIDGE. 


PEEFACE. 

MANY  of  these  Recollections  were  published  at  in 
tervals,  during  the  years  1867  and  1868,  in  The 
Christian  Register.  They  were  written  at  the  special 
request  of  the  editor  of  that  paper ;  and  without  the 
slightest  expectation  that  they  would  ever  be  put  to  any 
further  use.  But  so  many  persons  have  requested  me 
to  republish  them  in  a  volume,  that  I  have  gathered 
them  here,  together  with  several  more  recollections  of 
events  and  transactions,  illustrative  of  the  temper  of 
the  times  as  late  as  the  winter  of  1861,  when  our  guilty 
nation  was  left  "  to  be  saved  so  as  by  the  fire  "  of  civil 
war. 

My  readers  must  not  expect  to  find  in  this  book  any 
thing  like  a  complete  history  of  the  times  to  which  it 
relates.  The  articles  of  which  it  is  composed  are  frag 
mentary  and  sketchy.  I  expect  and  hope  they  will  not 
satisfy.  If  they  whet  the  appetites  of  those  who  read 
them  for  a  more  thorough  history  of  the  conflict  with 
slavery  in  our  country  and  in  Great  Britain,  they  will 
have  accomplished  their  purpose.  That  in  the  two  freest, 
most  enlightened,  most  Christian  nations  on  earth  there 
should  have  been,  during  more  than  half  of  the  nine 
teenth  century,  so  stout  a  defence  of  "  the  worst  system 
of  iniquity  the  world  has  ever  known,"  is  a  marvel  that 
cannot  be  fully  studied  and  explained,  without  discover 
ing 'that^  the  mightiest  nation,  as  well  as  the  humblest 
individual,  may  not  with  impunity  consent  to.  any  sin, 
nor  persist"  in  unrighteousness  without  ruin, 

21 6048 


\ 


IV  PREFACE. 

I  am  happy  to  announce  that  in  due  time  a  somewhat 
elaborate  history  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  slave  power 
in  America  may  be  expected  from  the  Hon.  Henry  Wil 
son.  He  is  competent  to  the  undertaking.  He  is  cau 
tious  and  candid  as  well  as  brave  and  explicit.  He  was 
an  Abolitionist  before  he  became  a  politician.  He  has 
never  ignored  the  rights  of  humanity,  for  the  sake  of  par 
tisan  success  or  personal  aggrandizement.  Mr.  Wilson, 
I  believe,  did  as  much  as  any  one  of  our  prominent 
statesmen  to  procure  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  to  effect  its  subversion  through 
out  the  country. 

My  brief  sketches  have  been  taken,  I  presume,  from  a 
point  of  sight  different  somewhat  from  his.  Many  of 
my  readers  may  wish  that  I  had  not  reported  so  many 
of  the  evil  words  and  deeds  of  ministers  and  churches. 
I  have  done  so  with  regret  and  mortification.  But  it 
has  seemed  to  me  that  the  most  important  lesson  taught 
in  the  history  of  the  last  forty  years  —  the  influence  of 
slavery  upon  the  religion  of  our  country  —  ought  least 
of  all  to  be  withheld  from  the  generations  that  are 
coming  on  to  fill  our  places  in  the  Church  and  in  the 
State. 

My  book,  I  fear,  will  be  displeasing  to  many  because 
they  will  not  find  in  it  much  that  they  expect.  I  can 
only  beg  such  to  bear  in  mind  what  I  have  proposed  to 
give  my  readers,  —  not  a  history  of  the  antislavery  con 
flict,  only  some  of  my  recollections  of  the  events  and 
actors  in  it.  I  have  merely  mentioned  the  names,  of  our 
indefatigable  and  able  fellow-laborers,  Henry  C.  Wright, 
Stephen  S.  Foster,  and  Parker  Pillsbury.  A  due  account 
of  their  valuable  services  in  this  country  and  Great 
Britain  would  fill  a  volume  as  large  as  this.  But,  for 
the  most  part,  these  became  known  to  me  through  The 
Liberator  and  Antislavery  Standard. 


PREFACE.  V 

My  sphere  of  operation  and  observation  was  confined 
almost  entirely  to  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  until 
I  removed  to  Central  New  York  in  1845.  My  travels 
as  an  antislavery  agent  and  lecturer  were  restricted  to 
New  England,  and  to  the  years  from  1832  to  183G,  be 
fore  many  who  have  since  become  distinguished  had 
given  themselves  to  the  work.  The  field  has  been  coex 
tensive  with  our  vast  country.  It  cannot  be  supposed 
that  I  have  personally  known  a  tenth  part  of  the  indi 
viduals  who  have  done  good  services,  much  less  that  I 
have  been  a  witness  of  their  words  and  deeds.  Often 
have  I  been  encouraged  and  delighted  by  unexpected 
tidings  of  noble  words  uttered  and  brave  deeds  done,  in 
one  part  and  another  of  the  land,  by  individuals  whom 
I  never  saw  before  nor  since.  Almost  everywhere  there 
was  some  one  who  promptly  responded  to  the  demand 
for  the  liberation  of  the  enslaved,  and  dared  to  advocate 
their  right  to  freedom.  Could  a  perfect  history  be  writ 
ten  of  the  antislavery  labors  of  the  last  forty  years, 
hundreds  would  be  named  as  having  rendered  valuable 
services,  of  whom  I  have  never  heard  ;  whose  good  word 
or  work  perhaps  was  not  known  beyond  the  immediate 
circle  that  was  affected  by  it.  But  the  memory  thereof 
will  not  be  lost.  Every  righteous  act,  eveiy  heroic, 
generous,  true  utterance  in  the  cause  of  the  outraged, 
crushed,  despised  bondmen,  will  be  had  in  everlasting 
remembrance,  and  He  who  seeth  in  secret  will  hereafter, 
if  not  here,  openly  reward  the  faithful. 

S.  J.  M. 


CONTENTS. 


RISE  OF  ABOLITIONISM l 

Rev.  John  Rankin  and  Rev.  John  D.  Paxton .        .        ,;  .10 

Benjamin  Lundy         •        .        »        «••••••»        .        .  n 

William  Lloyd  Garrison •  •  '  J5 

Miss  Prudence  Crandall  and  the  Canterbury  School .        .  39 

The  Black  Law  of  Connecticut      .        .        .        .        .  .52 

Arthur  Tappan    .        .        .        ...        .        .        .  57 

Charles  C.  Burleigh        .        .        .        .        ...        .  .62 

Miss  Crandall's  Trial  .        .        .        ...        .        .  66 

House  set  on  Fire   _ .        .  .       7<» 

Mr.  Garrison's  Mission  to  England.  —  New  York  Mobs      .  72 

The  Convention  at  Philadelphia      .        .        .        .        .  .      7'.» 

Lucretia  Mott      .        .....        i        .        .  91 

Mrs.  L.  Maria  Child         ...        .  ,     .        ...      VI 

Eruption  of  Lane  Seminary        .        ...        .        .        .  102 

George  Thompson,  M.  P.,  LL.  D.     .  •     .  -      .        .        .  .     108 

His  First  Year  in  America  .        .        .        •        .        .        .  115 

AJTTISLAVERY  CONFLICT      .        .       •'•.'.       .       .  .    126 

Reign  of  Terror  .....'.        .        .        .  131 

Walker's  Appeal     .        .                .        .        .        .        .  .133 

The  Clergy  and  the  Quakers 144 

The  Quakers    .        .'.".'.'....  .147 

The  Reign  of  Terror  continued 150 

Francis  Jackson ..  .157 

Riot  at  Utica,  N.  Y.  — Gerrit  Smith 162 

Dr.  Channing  ..........     170 

His  Address  on  Slavery       .        ...        .        .        .        .  177 

The  Gag-Law 185 

The  Gag-Law.  —  Second  Interview 194 


Vl  11  CONTENTS. 


.  James  G.  Birney 203' 

'     John  Quincy  Adams         ....  ...  211 

The  Alton  Tragedy      ....;»..  221 

u-~A¥oihan  Question.  —  Misses  Grimke" 

"  The  Pastoral  Letter  "  and  "  The  Clerical  Appeal  "  .        .  238 
Dr.  Charles  Pollen   .      '  JT   :  V1     »"    :.       \        .        .        .248 

John  G.  Whittier  and  the  Antislavery  Poets       ...  259 

Prejudice  against  Color  .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .  266 

A  Negro's  Love  of  Liberty .        .        .        .        *        .        •  278^- 

Distinguished  Colored  Men      .......  285 

David  Ruggles,  Lewis  Hayden,  and  William  C.  Nell   .  285 

James  Forten  .      *  .        .         .        .        i        .        .        .  286 

Robert  Purvis        .        .        .        .        .        .        ,  288 

William  Wells  Brown       .     -.     '.        .        ...  280 

Charles  Lenox  Remond         .        .        .        .        .        .'  289 

Rev.  J.  W.  Loguen   .        .        .......  290 

Frederick  Douglass       .        .        .        .        .       '.    '    .  292 

The  Underground  Railroad      .     '  .     '  .     '   . :      .        •        •  296 

George  Latimer    .'.••'.'••".        •        •  305 

The  Annexation  of  Texas       ..'.        .".        •        •  313 

Abolitionists  in  Central  New  York.  — Gerrit  Smith    .        .  321 

Conduct  of  the  Clergy  and  Churches      ...        *     '.  329 

Unitarian  and  Universalist  Ministers  and  Churches    .        .  333 

Unitarians        ...•.'.•    .f  ;   .        •        *'       «  335 
The  Fugitive  Slave  LaAV      .                •     ! '  *'"'  •        •        • 

DanielWebster        .        .        •        •       ^    '•       '*'   •    •        •  348 
The  Unitarians  and  their  Ministers      .        .     '••  '     .   •    . 

The  Rescue  of  Jerry        .    '   . 373 

New  Persecutions        .  .    .   •        • 

Riot  in  Syracuse      .        .        .'      .• 391 


APPENDIX 


397 


RISE   OF   ABOLITIONISM. 

EVER  and  anon  in  the  world's  history  there  has 
been  some  one  who  has  broken  out  as  a  living 
fountain  of  the  free,  spirit  of  humanity,  has  given  bold 
utterance  to  the  pent-up  thought  of  wrongs,  too  long 
endured,  and  has  made  the  demand  for  some  God-given 
right,  until  then  withheld,  —  a  demand  so  obviously 
just,  that  the  tyrants  of  earth  have  trembled  as  if 
called  to  judgment,  and  the  oppressed  have  rejoiced 
as  at  the  voice  of  their  deliverer.  "It  is  thus  the 
spirit  of  a  single  mind  makes  that  of  multitudes  take 
one  direction." 

Such,  as  the  subsequent  history  of  our  country  has 
shown,  such  was  the  spirit  of  the  mind  of  that  man 
who  will  be  honored  through  all  coming  time,  as  the 
leader  of  the  most  glorious  movement  ever  made  in 
humanity's  behalf,  — the  movement  for  perfect,  impartial 
liberty,  which  for  the  last  thirty-nine  years  has  rocked 
our  Republic  from  centre  to  circumference,  and  will  con 
tinue  to  agitate  it  until  every  vestige  of  slavery  is 
shaken  out  of  our  civil  fabric. 

"  When  the  tourist  of  Europe  has  descended  from 
the  Black  Forest  into  Suabia,  his  guide  asks  him  if  he 
does  not  wish  to  see  the  source  of  the  Danube.  Only 
one  answer  can  be  given  to  such  a  question.  So  he  is 
conducted  into  the  garden  of  an  obscure  nobleman  of 
Baden ;  and  there,  within  a  small  stone  enclosure,  he  is 

1  A 


2  RISE   OF   ABOLITIONISM. 

shown  the  highest  spring  of  that  river,  which  has  worn 
its  channel  deeper  and  wider  for  sixteen  hundred  miles, 
and,  receiving  on  its  way  the  contributions  of  thirty 
navigable  streams,  enters  the  Black  Sea  by  five  mouths, 
thus  opening  a  communication  between  the  interior  of 
Europe  and  the  Mediterranean,  bearing  on  its  bosom 
the  commerce  of  fifty  millions  of  people,  and  bringing 
them  into  the  community  of  nations." 

Soon  after  Mr.  Garrison's  assault  upon  the  institution 
o£  American  slavery  began  to  be  felt,  (and  that  was  almost 
asv  soon  as  it  began,)  a  Southern  governor  wrote  to  the 
mayor  of  Boston,  demanding  to  know  what  was  to  be 
expected,  what  to  be  feared,  from  this  attack  upon  "  the 
peculiar  institution  of  the  South."  In  due  time  the 
gentleman  wrho  was  then  the  high  official  addressed 
replied  to  his  Southern  excellency,  that  there  was  no 
occasion  for  uneasiness.  "  He  had  made  diligent  search 
for  the  would-be  '  Liberator.'  The  city  officers  had  fer 
reted  out  the  paper  and  its  editor.  His  office  was  an 
obscure  hole,  his  only  visible  auxiliary  a  negro  boy,  and 
his  supporters  a  few  very  insignificant  persons  of  all 
colors." 

Undoubtedly  to  that  dainty  gentleman  the  rise  of  the 
antislavery  enterprise  in  our  country  did  seem  insig 
nificant,  —  quite  as  insignificant  as  the  little  spring  of 
water  in  the  garden  at  Baden.  He  may  never  have 
learnt  among  his  nursery  rhymes,  that 

"  Large  streams  from  little  fountains  flow, 
Tall  oaks  from  little  acorns  grow," 

and  he  must  have  forgotten  that  Christianity  began  in 
a  stable,  — "  that  not  many  wise  men  after  the  flesh,  not 
many  mighty,  not  many  noble  were  called.  But  that 
God  chose  the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to  confound 
the  wise,  and  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound 
the  things  which  are  mighty."  Our  poet,  Lowell,  esti- 


RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM.  3X 

mated  more  justly  "the  would-be  Liberator,"  his  office 
and  his  humble  assistant." 

"In  a  small  chamber,  friendless  and  unseen, 

Toiled  o'er  his  types  one  poor,  unlearned  young  man; 
The  place  was  dark,  unfurnitured,  and  mean; 
Yet  there  the  freedom  of  a  race  began. 

"Help  came  but  slowly;  sure  no  man  yet 
Put  lever  to  the  heavy  world  with  less. 
What  need  of  help?    He  knew  how  types  to  set; 
He  had  a  dauntless  spirit  and  a  press. 

"  Such  dauntless  natures  are  the  fiery  pith, 

The  compact  nucleus  round  which  systems  grow; 
Mass  after  mass  becomes  inspired  therewith, 
And  whirls  impregnate  with  the  central  glow." 

^ 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  spirit  of  Mr.  Garrison's  ./ 
mind  has  made  the  minds  of  multitudes  —  yes,  of  the  / 
majority  of  the  people  of  our  country  —  take  a  new  di 
rection  in  favor  of  impartial  liberty.  Of  course,  I  do 
not  claim  that  this  new  love  of  liberty  originated  with 
him.  He  was  no  more  the  creator  of  this  moral  power, 
which  has  taken  our  nation  in  its  grasp,  and  is  remould 
ing  all  our  civil  and  religious  institutions,  than  the  foun 
tain  in  the  garden  at  Baden  is  the  originator  of  the 
mighty  Danube.  Mr.  Garrison,  no  less  than  that  spring, 
is  but  a  medium,  through  which  the  Father  of  all  mer 
cies  pours  from  the  hollow  of  his  hand  the  waters  that 
refresh  the  earth,  and,  from  the  fulness  of  his  heart,  the 
streams  that  purify  the  souls,  making  glad  the  children 
of  God  on  earth  and  in  heaven.  But  although  to  God 
we  must  ultimately  ascribe  all  our  blessings,  yet  do  we 
naturally,  and  with  great  reason,  revere  and  love  as  our 
benefactors  those  persons  who  have  been  the  means  and 
instruments  by  which  personal,  political,  or  religious 
blessings  have  been  conferred  upon  us.  Especially  do 
we  acknowledge  our  indebtedness  to  them,  if  they  have 
suffered  reproach,  persecution,  loss,  death,  for  the  sake 


4  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

of  the  good  which  we  enjoy.  The  time,  therefore,  is 
coming,  if  it  be  not  now,  when  the  people  of  our  re 
united  Republic  will  gratefully  own  William  Lloyd  Gar 
rison  among  the  greatest  benefactors  of  our  nation  and 
our  race. 

However  much  our  gratitude  to  the  fathers  of  our 
Revolution  may  dispose  us  to  hide  their  shortcomings 
of  the  goal  of  impartial  liberty,  however  much  we  may 
find  or  devise  to  excuse  or  extenuate  their  infidelity  to 
the  cause  of  down-trodden  humanity,  there  the  shame 
ful  facts  stand,  and  never  can  be  effaced  from  the  record  ; 
—  the  fact  that  (notwithstanding  their  glorious  Declara 
tion)  the  American  revolutionists  did  not  intend  the  de 
liverance  of  all  men  from  oppression  ;  no,  not  of  all  the 
men  who  heroically  fought  for  it  side  by  side  with  them 
selves  ;  no,  not  of  the  men  who,  of  all  others,  needed 
that  deliverance  the  most ; — the  fact  that  the  Constitu 
tion  of  this  Republic  (notwithstanding  its  avowed  pur 
pose)  did  not  mean  to  secure  liberty  to  all  the  dwellers 
in  the  land  over  which  it  was  to  preside ;  nor  did  it 
provide  that  those  might  depart  from  under  it  who 
were  not  to  have  any  share  in  its  blessings,  nor  allow 
the  spirit  of  liberty  in  them  to  assert  its  claims  ;  —  the 
shameful  fact  that  the  aim,  the  tendency,  and  the  result 
of  that  great  struggle  for  freedom  were  partial,  re 
stricted,  selfish  ;  —  the  terrible  fact  that  the  American 
revolutionists  of  1776  left  more  firmly  established  in  our 
country  a  system  of  bondage,  a  slavery,  "  one  hour  of 
which  "  was  known  and  acknowledged  by  them  to  be 
"  more  intolerable  than  whole  ages  of  that  from  which 
they  had  revolted." 

To  complete,  by  moral  and  relif/ious  means  and  instru 
ments,  the  great  work  which  the  American  revolutionists 
commenced ;  to  do  what  they  left  undone ;  to  extermi 
nate  from  our  land  the  worst  form  of  oppression,  the 


RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM.  5 

tremendous  sin  of  slavery,  was  the  sole  purpose  of  tho 
enterprise  of  the  Abolitionists,  commenced  in  January, 
1831.  In  this  great  work  Mr.  Garrison  has  been  the 
leader  from  the  beginning.  Of  him,  therefore,  I  shall 
have  the  most  to  say.  But  of  many  other  noble  men 
and  women  1  shall  have  occasion  to  make  most  grateful 
mention.  ,  ,«,,. 

Although  I  claim  that  Mr.  Garrison  has  done  more 
than  any  one  else  for  the  liberation  of  the  immense 
slave  population  of  America,  I  am  not  ignorant  or  for 
getful  of  those  who,  before  his  day,  made  some  attempts 
for  their  deliverance.  Not  to  mention  the  many  emi 
nent  divines  and  statesmen  of  England  and  the  Colonies, 
before  the  Revolution,  who  utterly  condemned  slavery,  — 
the  prominent  leaders  in  that  momentous  conflict  with 
Great  Britain,  and  in  the  institution  of  our  Republic,  felt 
and  acknowledged  its  glaring  inconsistency  with  a  demo 
cratic  government.  Some  of  that  day  predicted,  with  al 
most  prophetic  foresight,  the  evils,  the  ruin,  which  it 
would  bring  upon  our  nation,  if  slavery  should  be  per 
mitted  to  abide  in  our  midst.  Many  protested  against 
the  Constitution,  because  of  those  articles  in  it  which 
favored  the  continuance  and  indefinite  extension  of  "the 
great  iniquity."  But  their  objections  were  too  generally 
overruled  by  plausible  expositions  of  the  potency  of  other 
parts  of  our  Magna  Charta  ;  and  they  acquiesced,  in  the 
vain  hope  that  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution  would 
prove  to  be  better  than  the  letter. 

For  twenty  years  after  the  re-formation  of  our  Gen 
eral  Government  in  1787,  true-hearted  men  and  women 
spoke  and  wrote  in  terms  of  strong  condemnation  of 
slavery,  as  well  as  the  slave-trade.  They  spoke  and 
wrote  and  published  what  the  spirit  of  liberty  dictated, 
in  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  North  Carolina,  not  less  than 
in  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  and  the  New  England 


6  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

States.  Nay,  more,  they  instituted  "  societies  for  the 
amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  enslaved, '  and 
their  gradual  emancipation."  Headed  by  no  less  a  man 
than  Dr.  Franklin,  they  besieged  Congress  with  petitions 
for  the  suppression  of  the  African  slave-trade,  and  the 
gradual  abolition  of  slavery.  But  after,  in  1808,  they 
had  obtained  the  prohibition  of  the  trade,  they  subsided, 
as  did  the  abolitionists  of  Great  Britain,  into  the  belief 
that  the  subversion  of  the  whole  evil  of  slavery  would 
soon  follow  as  a  consequence  ;  not  foreseeing  that,  so  long 
as  the  market  for  slaves  should  be  kept  open,  the  com 
modity  demanded  there  would  be  forthcoming,  let  the 
hazard  of  procuring  it  be  ever  so  great.  It  is  now  no 
torious  that  the  traffic  in  human  beings  has  never  been 
carried  on  so  briskly  as  since  its  nominal  abolition, 
while  the  sufferings  of  the  victims,  and  the  destruc' 
tion  of  their  lives,  have  been  threefold  greater  than  be 
fore. 

Owing  to  this  mistaken  expectation  of  the  effect  of 
the  Act  of  1808  abolishing  the  slave-trade,  the  attention 
of  philanthropists  was  in  a  great  measure  withdrawn 
from  the  subject  of  slavery  for  ten  years  or  more. 
Meanwhile,  the  friends  of  "  the  peculiar  institution " 
were  busily  engaged  in  extending  its  borders  and  strength 
ening  its  defences.  The  purchase  of  the  Louisiana  and 
Florida  territories  threw  open  countless  acres  of  virgin 
soil,  on  which  the  labor  of  slaves  wras  more  profita 
ble  than  elsewhere.  The  invention  of  the  "  cotton-gin  " 
rendered  the  preparation  of  that  staple  so  easy,  that 
our  Southern  planters  could  compete  with  any  produ 
cers  of  it  the  world  over.  Cotton  plantations,  therefore, 
multiplied  apace.  The  value  of  slaves  was  more  than 
doubled.  The  spirit  of  private  manumission,  which  in 
Virginia  alone,  between  1798  and  1808,  had  set  free 
more  than  a  thousand  bondmen  annually,  was  checked 


RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM.  7 

by  avarice,  and  then  forbidden  by  law.  .  And  the  "  An 
cient  Dominion,"  proud  Virginia,  rapidly  became  the 
home  of  slave-breeders  ;  and  from  that  American  Guinea 
was  carried  on  a  traffic  in  human  beings  as  brisk  and 
horrible  as  ever  desolated  the  coast  of  Africa. 

The  free  colored  population  at  the  South  were  sub 
jected  to  new  disabilities,  were  exposed  to  most  vexa 
tious  annoyances,  and  were  denied  the  protection  of 
law  against  encroachments  or  personal  injuries  by  the 
"  whites  " ;  and  very  many  of  them,  on  slight  pretexts, 
were  reduced  to  slavery  again. 

Social  intercourse  between  the  Northern  and  the 
Southern  States  was  then-  infrequent.  It  was  kept  up 
mainly  by  the  wealthy  and  pleasure-seeking,  who,  in 
their  enjoyment  of  the  hospitality  of  the  planters,  could 
learn  little  of  the  condition  and  character  of  their  bond 
men,  and  were  easily  led  to  take  "  South-side  views  of 
slavery." 

Whatsoever  we  gathered  from  these  sources  of  infor 
mation  led  us  too  readily  to  acquiesce  in  the  common 
assumption,  that  the  negroes  were  a  thick-skulled,  stu 
pid,  kind-hearted,  jolly  people,  not  much  if  any  worse 
off  in  slavery  at  the  South  than  most  of  the  free  people 
of  color,  and  some  other  poor  folks  were  at  the  North. 
So,  when  we  were  disquieted  at  all  on  their  account,  it 
was  but  for  a  little  time,  and  we  relieved  ourselves  of 
the  burden  by  a  sigh  or  two  over  the  misery  that  every 
where  "  flesh  is  heir  to." 

The  first  event  that  fixed  the  attention  of  Northern 
men  seriously  upon  the  subject  of  slavery,  over  which 
they  had  slumbered  since  1808,  was  the  dispute  that 
arose  in  1819,  upon  the  proposal  to  admit  Missouri  into 
the  Union  as  a  slave  State.  The  contest  was  a  vehe 
ment  one.  Mr.  Webster  was  then  upon  the  side  of  lib 
erty.  He  led  the  van  of  the  opposition  that  arrayed 


8  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

itself  in  !New  .England,  and  would  have  averted  the 
catastrophe,  but  for  the  cry  "  dissolution  of  the  Union," 
then  first  raised  at  the  South,  and  the  necromancy  of 
Henry  Clay,  who,  with  his  wand  of  compromise,  con 
jured  the  people  into  acquiescence.  Words,  however, 
significant  words,  touching  the  evil  and  the  awful  wrong 
of  slavery,  were  uttered  in  that  controversy  which 
were  not  to  be  forgotten.  And  feelings  of  compassion 
for  the  bondmen  were  awakened  which  were  not  al 
layed  by  the  result. 

Shortly  before  the  Missouri  controversy  a  movement 
had  commenced  in  the  slave  States,  which  was  pregnant 
with  effects  very  different  from  those  intended  by  the 
projectors  of  it.  Often  was  it  roughly  demanded  of  us 
Abolitionists,  "  Why  we  espoused  so  zealously  the  cause 
of  the  enslaved  1 "  "  why  we  meddled  so  with  the  civil 
and  domestic  institutions  of  the  Southern  States]"  Our 
first  answer  always  was,  in  the  memorable  words  of  old 
Terence,  "  Because  we  are  men,  and,  therefore,  cannot 
be  indifferent  to  anything  that  concerns  humanity." 
Liberty  cannot  be  enjoyed,  nor  long  preserved,  at  the 
North,  if  slavery  be  tolerated  at*  the  South.  But  to 
those  who  felt  so  slightly  the  cords  of  love  and  the 
bonds  of  a  common  humanity  that  they  could  not  ap 
preciate  these  reasons,  we  gave  another  reason  for  our 
interference  with  the  slavery  in  our  Southern  States, 
even  this  :  ive  were  solicited,  we  were  urged,  entreated  by 
the  slaveholders  themselves  to  interfere. 

About  the  year  1816,  while  intent  upon  their  projects 
for  perpetuating  and  extending  their  "peculiar  institu 
tion,"  the  slaveholders  were  alarmed  by  symptoms  of 
discontent  among  the  free  colored  people,  imagined 
that  they  were  promoting  insubordination  amongst  the 
slaves,  and  so  conceived  the  project  of  colonizing  them 
in  Africa.  To  insure  the  accomplishment  of  so  mighty 


KISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM.  9 

an  undertaking,  it  was  obviously  necessary  to  obtain 
the  aid  of  the  general  government.  In  order  to  sus 
tain  that  government  in  making  such  a  large  appropria 
tion  of  the  public  money  as  would  be  needed,  the  people 
of  the  North,  as  well  as  of  the  South,  were  to  be  concil 
iated  to  the  plan ;  and  to  conciliate  them  it  was  neces 
sary  to  make  it  appear  to  be  a  philanthropic  enterprise, 
conferring  great  benefits  immediately  upon  the  free  col 
ored  people,  and  tending  certainly,  though  indirectly,  to 
the  entire  abolition  of  slavery.  Accordingly,  agents, 
eloquent  and  cunning  men,  were  sent  into  all  the  free 
States,  especially  into  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  and  New 
England,  to  press  the  claims  of  the  oppressed  people  of 
the  South  upon  the  compassion  and  generosity  of  the 
Northern  philanthropists.  Never  did  agents  do  their 
work  better.  Never  were  more  exciting  appeals  made 
to  the  humane  than  were  pressed  home  upon  us  by  such 
men  as  Mr.  Gurley,  Mr.  Cresson,  and  their  fellow-labor 
ers.  They  kept  out  of  sight  the  real  design,  the  primal 
object,  the  animus  of  the  founders  and  Southern  patrons 
of  the  American  Colonization  Society.  They  presented 
to  us  views  of  the  debasing,  dehumanizing  effects  of 
slavery  upon  its  victims  ;  the  need  of  a  far-distant  re 
moval  from  its  overshadowing  presence  of  those  who 
had  been  blighted  by  it,  that  they  might  revive,  unfold 
their  humanity,  exhibit  their  capacities,  command  the 
respect  of  those  who  had  known  them  only  in  degrada 
tion,  and,  by  their  new-born  activities,  not  only  secure 
comfort  and  plenty  for  themselves  on  the  shores  of  their 
fatherland,  but  prepare  homes  there  for  the  reception 
of  millions  still  pining  in  slavery,  who,  we  were  assured, 
would  be  gladly  released  whenever  it  should  be  known 
that  the  bestowment  of  freedom  would  be  a  blessing  and 
not  a  curse  to  them.  Such  appeals  were  not  made  to 
our  hearts  in  vain.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  Mr.  Garrison, 
1* 


10  EISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

Gen-it  Smith,  Arthur  Tappan,  William  Goodell,  and  all 
the  early  Abolitionists,  were  induced  to  espouse  the 
cause  of  our  oppressed  and  enslaved  countrymen,  by 
the  speeches  and  tracts  of  Southern  Colonizationists. 

If  I  were  intending  to  write  a  complete  history  of  the 
conflict  with  slavery  in  our  country,  gratitude  would 
impel  me  to  give  some  account  of  a  number  of  philan 
thropists  who,  in  different  parts  of  the  Union,  some  of 
them  in  the  midst  of  slaveholding  communities,  before 
Mr.  Garrison's  day,  had  fully  exposed  and  faithfully  de 
nounced  "the  great  iniquity,"  I  should  make  especial 
mention  of 


REV.  JOHN    RANKIN  AND  REV.  JOHN  D.  PAXTON. 

The  former  was  a  Presbyterian  minister  in  Kentucky, 
where,  in  1825,  having  heard  that  his  brother,  Mr. 
Thomas  Rankin,  of  Virginia,  had  become  a  slaveholder, 
he  addressed  to  him  a  series  of  very  earnest  and  impres 
sive  letters  in  remonstrance.  They  were  published  first 
in  a  periodical  called  the  Castiyator,  and  afterwards 
went  through  several  editions  in  pamphlet  form.  He 
denounced  "  slavery  as  a  never-failing  fountain  of  the 
grossest  immoralities,  and  one  of  the  deepest  sources  of 
human  misery."  He  insisted  that  "the  safety  of  our 
government  and  the  happiness  of  its  subjects  depended 
upon  the  extermination  of  this  evil."  We  New  England 
Abolitionists,  in  the  early  days  of  our  warfare,  made  great 
use  of  Mr.  Rankin's  volume  as  a  depository  of  well-at 
tested  facts,  justifying  the  strongest  condemnation,  we 
could  utter,  of  the  system  of  oppression  that  had  become 
established  in  our  country  and  sanctioned  by  our  gov 
ernment. 

Mr.  Paxton  was  the  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian  church 
in  Cumberland,  Virginia,  He  was  a  member  of  the 


RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM.  11 

Presbyterian  General  Assembly,  which  in  1818  denounced 
"  the  voluntary  enslaving  of  one  part  of  the  human  race 
as  a  gross  violation  of  the  most  precious  and  sacred  rights 
of  human  nature,  —  utterly  inconsistent  ivith  the  law  of 
God"  Believing  what  that  grave  body  had  declared,  he 
set  about  endeavoring  to-  convince  the  church  to  which 
he  ministered  of  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  slavehold- 
ing  ;  and  that  "  they  ought  to  set  their  bondmen  free 
so  soon  as  it  could  be  done  with  advantage  to  them." 
His  preaching  to  this  effect  gave  offence  to  many  of  his 
parishioners,  and  led  to  his  dismission.  In  justice  to 
himself,  and  to  the  cause  of  humanit}^  for  espousing 
which  he  had  been  persecuted,  Mr.  Paxton  also  published 
a  volume  of  letters,  which  were  of  great  service  to  us. 
In  these  letters  he  faithfully  exposed  the  abject,  debased, 
suffering  condition  of  our  American  slaves,  —  incompa 
rably  worse  than  that  which  was  permitted  under  the 
Mosaic  dispensation,  —  and  pretty  effectually  demolished 
the  Bible  argument  in  support  of  the  abomination. 
However,  the  labors  of  these  good  men,  and  of  those 
whom  they  roused,  were  erelong  diverted  into  the  se 
ductive  channel  of  the  Colonization  scheme. 

But  there  was  another  of  the  early  antislavery  reform 
ers,  of  whom  I  may  write  much  more  fully  in  accordance 
with  my  plan,  which  is  to  give,  for  the  most  part,  only 
my  personal  recollections  of  the  prominent  actors,  and  the 
most  significant  incidents,  in  our  conflict  with  the  giant 
wrong  of  our  nation  and  age. 

BENJA1MIN  LUNDY. 

In  the  month  of  June,  1828,  there  came  to  the  town 
of  Brooklyn,  Connecticut,  where  I  then  resided,  and  to 
the  house  of  my  friend,  the  venerable  philanthropist, 
George  Benson,  a  man  of  small  stature,  of  feeble  health, 


12  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

partially  deaf,  asking  for  a  public  hearing  upon  the  sub 
ject  of  American  slavery.  It  was  Benjamin  Lundy. 
We  gathered  for  him  a  large  congregation,  and  his  ad- 
drgss  made  a  deep  impression  on  many  of  his  hearers. 
He  exhibited  the  wrong  of  slavery  and  the  sufferings  of 
its  victims  in  a  graphic,  affecting  manner.  But  the 
relief  which  he  proposed  was  to  be  found  in  removing 
them  to  some  of  the  unoccupied  territory  of  Texas  or, 
Mexico,  rather  than  in  recognizing  their  rights  as  men 
here,  in  the  country  where  so  many  of  them  had  been 
born  ;  and  in  making  all  the  amends  possible  for  the 
injuries  so  long  inflicted  upon  them  by  giving  them  here 
1  the  blessings  of  education,  and  every  opportunity  and  as 
sistance  to  become  all  that  God  has  made  them  capable 
of  being.  Nevertheless,  Mr.  Lundy  had  done  then,  and 
he  continued  afterwards,  until  his  death  in  1839,  to  do 
excellent  service  in  the  cause  of  the  enslaved.  Indeed, 
his  labors  were  so  abundant,  his  sacrifices  so  mairv,  and 
his  trials  so  severe,  that  no  one  will  stand  before  the 
God  of  the  oppressed  with  a  better  record  than  he. 

Benjamin  Lundy  was  born  in  New  Jersey,  of  Quaker 
parents,  in  1789,  and  was  educated  in  the  sentiments 
and  under  the  influence  of  the  society  of  Friends.  He 
•was,  therefore,  from  his  earliest  days,  taught  to  regard 
slaveholding  as  a  great  iniquity.  At  the  age  of  nineteen 
he  went  to  reside  in  Wheeling,  Virginia,  and  there  learnt 
the  saddler's  trade.  This  he  afterwards  carried  on,  with 
great  success  for  a  number  of  3rears,  in  the  village  of  St. 
Clairville,  Ohio,  about  ten  miles  from  Wheeling.  But 
he  could  not  banish  from  his  memory  the  sights  he  had 
seen  at  Wheeling,  which  was  the  great  thoroughfare  of 
the  slave-trade  between  Virginia  and  the  Southern  and 
Southwestern  States ;  nor  efface  from  his  heart  the  im 
pression  that  he  ought  "  to  attempt  to  do  something  for 
the  relief  of  that  most  injured  portion  of  the  human 
race." 


RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM.  13 

As  early  as  1815,  when  twenty-six  years  of  age,  he 
formed  an  antislavery  society,  which  at  first  consisted 
of  only  six  members,  but  in  a  few  months  increased  to 
nearly  five  hundred,  among  whom  were  many  of  the 
influential  ministers,  lawyers,  arid  other  prominent 
citizens  of  several  of  the  counties  in  that  part  of  Ohio. 
Although  unused  to  composition,  he  wrote  an  appeal  to 
the  philanthropists  of  the  United  States,  which  was 
published  and  extensively  circulated,  and  led  to  the  for 
mation,  in  different  parts  of  the  State,  of  societies  sim 
ilar  in  spirit  and  purpose  to  the  one  he  had  instituted. 
He  then  engaged  in  the  publication  of  an  antislavery 
paper  ;  and  to  promote  its  circulation,  and  to  gather 
materials  for  its  columns,  he  commenced  his  travels  in 
the  slave  States.  These  were  performed  for  the  most 
part  on  foot.  Thus  he  journeyed  thousands  of  miles, 
through  Virginia,  Missouri,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and 
North  Carolina.  In  most  places  where  he  lectured 
publicly,  or  privately,  he  obtained  subscribers  to  his  paper. 
In  some  places  he  succeeded  in  forming  associations 
similar  to  his  own.  Not  unfrequently  he  met  with 
angry  rebuffs  and  violent  threats  of  personal  injury. 
But  he  was  a  man  of  the  most  quiet  courage,  as  well  as 
indomitable  perseverance.  He  disconcerted  his  assailants 
by  letting  them  see  that  they  could  not  frighten  him; 
that  the  threat  of  assassination  would  not  deter  him 
from  prosecuting  his  object.  Several  slaveholders  were 
so  much  affected  by  his  exposition  of  their  iniquity  that 
they  manumitted  their  bondmen,  on  condition  that  he 
would  take  them  to  a  place  where  they  would  be  free. 
Twice  or  thrice  he  went  to  Hayti,  conducting  such  freed 
ones  thither,  and  finding  homes  for  others  whom  he 
hoped  to  send  there.  Afterwards  he  explored  large 
portions  of  Mexico  and  Texas ;  and  made  strenuous 
endeavors  to  obtain  by  grant  or  purchase  sections  of 


14  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

lands,  upon  which  he  might  found  colonies  of  emanci 
pated  people  from  this  country.  In  this  attempt  he 
was  unsuccessful ;  but  while  prosecuting  it  he  gathered 
much  valuable  information  respecting  the  state  of  that 
country,  of  which  afterwards  important  use  was  made 
by  the  Hon.  J.  Q.  Adams,  in  his  strenuous  opposition 
in  1836  to  the  audacious  plot  by  which  Texas  was  an 
nexed  to  our  Republic. 

Mr.  Lundy  was  indefatigable  in  laboring  for  whatever 
he  undertook  to  accomplish.  He  learnt  the  printer's  art, 
that  he  might  communicate  to  the  public  whatever  he 
discovered  by  his  diligent  inquiries  of  the  condition  of 
the  enslaved,  and  enkindle  in  others  that  sympathy  for 
them  which  glowed  in  his  own  bosom.  He  was  not 
stationary  for  a  long  while  in  any  one  place.  His  paper, 
The  Genius  of  Universal  Eman^ation^  was  published 
successively  in  Ohio,  Missouri,  Tennessee,  and  in  Phila- 
tfelphia,  Washington,  and  Baltimore.  For  a  consider 
able  time  his  lecturing  excursions  were  so  frequent, 
diverse,  and  distant,  that  it  was  most  convenient  to  him 
to  get  his  paper  printed,  wherever  he  happened  to  be, 
from  month  to  month.  So  he  carried  along  with  him 
the  type,  "heading,"  the  "column-rules,"  and  his  "  direc 
tion-book,"  and  issued  "the  Genius,"  &c.,  from  any 
office  that  was  accessible  to  him.  He  often  had  to  pay 
for  the  publication  of  it  by  working  as  a  journeyman 
printer,  and  at  other  times  had  to  support  himself  by 
working  at  his  saddler's  trade.  Nothing  discouraged, 
nothing  daunted  Benjamin  Lundy.  He  possessed,  in  an 
eminent  degree,  the  fkith,  patience,  self-denial,  courage, 
and  endurance  necessary  to  a  pioneer.  He  was  -fre 
quently  threatened,  repeatedly  assaulted,  and  once 
brutally  beaten.  But  he  could  not  be  deterred  from 
prosecuting  the  work  to  which  he  was  called.  He  was 
a  rare  specimen  of  perfect  fidelity  to  duty,  a  conscien- 


RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM.  15 

tious,  meek,  but  fearless,  determined  man,  a  soldier  of 
the  cross,  a  moral  hero. 


WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON. 

William  Lloyd  Garrison  commenced  his  literary  and 
philanthropic  labors  when  a  young  journeyman  printer, 
in  his  native  place,  Newburyport,  Mass.  In  1825  he 
removed  to  Boston,  and  labored  for  a  while  in  the  office 
of  the  Recorder.  In  1827  he  united  with  Rev.  William 
Collier  in  editing  and  publishing  the  National  Philan 
thropist^  the  only  paper  then  devoted  to  the  Temperance 
cause.  And  soon  after  he  engaged  in  conducting  The 
Journal  of  the  Times,  at  Bennington,  Vt.  In  each  of  these 
papers,  especially  the  last,  he  took  strong  ground  against 
slavery.  Believing  the  plan  of  the  Colonization  Society 
to  be  intended  to  remove  the  great  evil  from  our  country, 
he  espoused  it  with  ardor,  and  advocated  it  with  such 
signal  ability,  that  he  was  recalled  to  Boston  to  deliver, 
in  Park  Street  church,  the  annual  address  to  the  Massa 
chusetts  Colonization  Society,  on  the  4th  of -July,  1828. 

Mr.  Garrison's  writings  attracted  the  attention  of  that 
devoted,  self-sacrificing  friend  of  the  enslaved,  Benjamin 
Lundy,  of  whom  I  have  just  now  given  some  account. 
He   urged    him   in    1828,    and  persuaded   him   in  the 
autumn  of  1829,  to  remove  to  Baltimore,  and  assist  in 
editing  The  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation.     There 
Mr.  G.  soon  saw,  with  his  own  eyes,  the  atrocities  of  i 
slavery  and  the  inter-state   slave-trade  ;  there  he  dis-  l^ 
covered  the  real  design  and  spirit  of  the  Colonization  1  \ 
scheme ;  there  the  radical  doctrine  of  immediate,  uncon-   \  ''. 
ditional  emancipation  was  revealed  to  him.     He  soon    I  ; 
made  himself  obnoxious  to  slaveholders  by  his  faithful    1 
exposure  of  their  cruelties ;  and  his  unsparing  condem-     1 
nation  of  their  atrocious  system  of  oppression.  I 


16  RISE  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

After  he  had  been  in  Baltimore  a  few  months,  a 
Northern  captain  came  there  in  a  ship  owned  and 
freighted  by  a  gentleman  of  Newburyport,  Mr.  Garri 
son's  birthplace.  Failing  to  obtain  another  cargo,  said 
captain,  with  the  consent  of  his  owner,  took  on  board  a 
load  of  slaves  to  be  transported  to  New  Orleans.  Such 
an  outrage  on  humanity,  perpetrated  by  Massachusetts 
men,  enkindled  Mr.  G.'s  hottest  indignation,  and  drew 
from  his  pen  a  scathing  rebuke.  He  was  forthwith  ar 
rested  as  both  a  civil  and  criminal  offender.  He  was 
prosecuted  for  a  libel  upon  the  captain  and  owner  of  the 
ship  "  Francis,"  and  for  disturbing  the  peace  by  attempt 
ing  to  excite  the  slaves  to  insurrection. 

It  would  be  needless  to  spend  time  in  proving  that, 
in  the  presence  of  a  slaveholding  judge,  before  a  slave- 
holding  jury,  surrounded  by  a  community  of  incensed 
slaveholders,  the  young  reformer  did  not  have  a  fair 
trial.  He  was  found  guilty  under  both  indictments. 
He  was  fined  and  sentenced  to  imprisonment  a  certain 
time,  as  the  punishment  for  his  alleged  crime,  and  after 
ward,  until  the  fine  imposed  for  "  the  libel "  should  be 
paid.  It  was  then  and  there  that  his  free,  undaunted 
spirit  inscribed  upon  the  walls  of  his  cell  that  joyous, 
jubilant  sonnet,  which  could  have  been  written  only  by 
one  conscious  of  innocence  in  the  sight  of  the  Holy  God, 
of  a  great  purpose  and  a  sacred  mission  yet  to  be  accom 
plished. 

"  High  walls  and  huge  the  body  may  confine, 

And  iron  grates  obstruct  the  prisoner's  gaze, 
And  massive  bolts  may  baffle  his  design, 

And  watchful  keepers  eye  his  devious  ways  ; 
Yet  scorns  the  immortal  mind  this  base  control ! 

No  chain  can  bind  iV,  and  no  cell  -enclose. 
Swifter  than  light  it  flies  from  pole  to  pole, 

And  in  a  flash  from  earth  to  heaven  it  goes. 
It  leaps  from  mount  to  mount.     From  vale  to  vale 

It  wanders,  plucking  honeyed  fruits  and  flowers. 


RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM.  17 

It  visits  home  to  hear  the  fireside  tale, 

Or  in  sweet  converse  p:iss  the  joyous  hours. 

'T  is  up  before  the  sun,  roaming  alar, 
And  in  its  watches,  wearies  every  star." 

After  seven  weeks  of  close  confinement  Mr.  Garrison 
was  liberated  by  the  noble,  discriminating  generosity 
of  the  late  Arthur  Tappan,  then  in  the  height  of  his 
affluence,  who,  so  long  as  he  had  wealth,  felt  that  he  was 
an  almoner  of  God's  bounty,  and  gave  his  money  gladly, 
in  many  ways,  to  the  relief  of  suffering  humanity.  The 
spirit  of  freedom,  —  the  true  American  eagle,  —  thus  un 
caged,  flew  back  to  his  native  New  England,  and  thence 
sent  forth  that  cry  which  disturbed  the  repose  of  every 
slaveholder  in  the  land,  and  has  resounded  throughout 
the  world. 

It  so  happened,  in  the  good  Providence  "  which  shapes 
our  ends,"  that  I  was  on  a  visit  in  Boston  at  that  time, 
—  October,  1830.  An  advertisement  appeared  in  the 
newspapers,  that  during  the  following  week  W.  Lloyd 
Garrison  would  deliver  to  the  public  three  lectures,  in 
which  he  would  exhibit  the  awful  sinfulness  of  slave- 
holding  ;  expose  the  duplicity  of  the  Colonization  Society, 
revealing  its  true  character;  and,  in  opposition  to  it, 
would  announce  and  maintain  the  doctrine,  that  im 
mediate,  unconditional  emancipation  is  the  right  of  every 
slave  and  the  duty  of  every  master.  The  advertisement 
announced  that  his  lectures  would  be  delivered  on  the 
Common,  unless  some  church  or  commodious  hall  should 
be  proffered  to  him  gratuitously.  If  I  remember  cor 
rectly,  it  was  intimated  in  the  newspapers,  or  currently 
reported  at  the  time,  that  Mr.  G.  had  applied  for  several 
of  the  Boston  churches,  and  been  refused,  because  it  was 
known  that  he  had  become  an  opponent  of  the  Coloni 
zation  Society.  A  day  or  two  after  the  first  I  saw  a 
second  advertisement,  informing  the  public  that  the  free 
use  of  "Julien  Hall,"  occupied  by  Rev.  Abner  Kneek 

B 


18  RISE  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

and's  church,  having  been  generously  tendered  to  Mr. 
Garrison,  he  would  deliver  his  lectures  there  instead  of 
the  Common.  I  had  not  then  seen  this  resolute  young 
man.  I  had  been  much  impressed  by  some  of  his 
writings,  knew  of  his  connection  with  Mr.  Lundy,  and 
had  heard  of  his  imprisonment.  Of  course  I  was  eager 
to  see  and  hear  him,  and  went  to  Julien  Hall  in  due 
season  on  the  appointed  evening.  My  brother-in-law, 
A.  Bronson  Alcott,  and  my  cousin,  Samuel  E.  Sewall, 
accompanied  me.  Truer  men  could  not  easily  have 
been  found. 

The  hall  was  pretty  well  filled.  Among  some  persons 
whom  I  did,  and  many  whom  I  did  not  know,  I  saw  there 
Rev.  Dr.  Beecher,  Rev.  Mr.  (now  Dr.)  Gannett,  Deacon 
Moses  Grant,  and  John  Tappan,  Esq. 

Presently  the  young  man  arose,  modestly,  but  with 
an  air  of  calm  determination,  and  delivered  such  a  lecture 
as  he  only,  T  believe,  at  that  time,  could  have  written ; 
for  he  only  had  had  his  eyes  so  anointed  that  he  could 
see  that  outrages  perpetrated  upon  Africans  were  wrongs 
done  to  our  common  humanity ;  he  only,  I  believe,  had 
had  his  ears  so  completely  unstopped  of  "  prejudice 
against  color  "  that  the  cries  of  enslaved  black  men  and 
black  women  sounded  to  him  as  if  they  came  from 
brothers  and  sisters. 

He  began  with  expressing  deep  regret  and  shame  for 
the  zeal  he  had  lately  manifested  in  the  Colonization 
cause.  It  was,  he  confessed,  a  zeal  without  knowledge. 
He  had  been  deceived  by  the  misrepresentations  so  dil 
igently  given,  throughout,  the  free  States  by  Southern 
agents,  of  the  design  and  tendency  of  the  Colonization 
scheme.  During  his  few  months'  residence  in  Maryland 
he  had  been  completely  undeceived.  He  had  there 
found  out  that  the  design  of  those  who  originated,  and 
the  especial  intentions  of  those  in  the  Southern  States 


IUSE   OF   ABOLITIONISM.  19 

that  engaged  in  the  plan,  were  to  remove  from  the 
country,  as  "  a  disturbing  element "  in  shareholding 
communities,  all  the  free  colored  people,  so  that  the 
bondmen  might  the  more  easily  be  held  in  subjection. 
He  exhibited  in  graphic  sketches  and  glowing  colors  the 
suffering  of  the  enslaved,  and  denounced  the  plan  of 
Colonization  as  devised  and  adapted  to  perpetuate  the 
system,  and  intensify  the  wrongs  of  American  slavery, 
and  therefore  utterly  undeserving  of  the  patronage  of 
lovers  of  liberty  and  friends  of  humanity. 

Never  before  was  I  so  affected  by  the  speech  of  man. 
When  he  had  ceased  speaking  I  said  to  those  around 
me  :  "  That  is  a  providential  man  ;  he  is  a  prophet ; 
he  will  shake  our  nation  to  its  centre,  but  he  will  shake 
slavery  out  of  it.  We  ought  to  know  him,  we  ought  to 
help  him.  Come,  let  us  go  and  give  him  our  hands." 
Mr.  Sewall  and  Mr.  Alcott  went  up  with  me,  and  we 
introduced  each  other.  I  said  to  him  :  "  Mr.  Garrison, 
I  am  not  sure  that  I  can  indorse  all  you  have  said 
this  evening.  Much  of  it  requires  careful  consideration. 
But  I  am  prepared  to  embrace  you.  I  am  sure  you  are 
called  to  a  great  work,  and  I  mean  to  help  you."  Mr. 
Sewall  cordially  assured  him  of  his  readiness  also  to  co 
operate  with  him.  Mr.  Alcott  invited  him  to  his  home. 
He  went,  and  we  sat  with  him  until  twelve  that  night, 
listening  to  his  discourse,  in  which  he  showed  plainly 
that  immediate,  unconditional  emancipation,  without  expa 
triation,  was  the  right  of  every  slave,  and  could  not  be 
ivithheld  by  his  mastei'  an  hour  without  sin.  That  night 
my  soul  was  baptized  in  his  spirit,  and  ever  since  I 
have  been  a  disciple  and  fellow-laborer  of  William 
Lloyd  Garrison. 

The  next  morning,  immediately  after  breakfast,  I  went 
to  his  boarding-house  and  stayed  until  two  P.  M.  I 
learned  that  he  was  poor,  dependent  upon  his  daily  labor 


20  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

for  his  daily  bread,  and  intending  to  return  to  the  print 
ing  business.  But,  before  he  could  devote  himself  to 
his  own  support,  he  felt  that  he  must  deliver  his  mes 
sage,  must  communicate  to  persons  of  prominent  influence 
what  he  had  learned  of  the  sad  condition  of  the  enslaved, 
and  the  institutions  and  spirit  of  the  slaveholders;  trust 
ing  that  all  true  and  good  men  would  discharge  the 
obligation  pressing  upon  them  to  espouse  the  cause  of 
the  poor,  the  oppressed,  the  down-trodden.  He  read  to 
me  letters  he  had  addressed  to  Dr.  Channing,  Dr.  Beech- 
er,  Dr.  Edwards,  the  Hon.  Jeremiah  Mason,  and  Hon. 
Daniel  Webster,  holding  up  to  their  view  the  tremendous 
iniquity  of  the  land,  and  begging  them,  ere  it  should 
be  too  late,  to  interpose  their  great  power  in  the  Church 
and  State  to  save  our  country  from  the  terrible  calam 
ities  which  the  sin  of  slavery  was  bringing  upon  us. 
Those  letters  were  eloquent,  solemn,  impressive.  I 
wonder  they  did  not  produce  a  greater  effect.  It  was 
because  none  to  whom  he  appealed,  in  public  or  private, 
would  espouse  the  cause,  that  Mr.  Garrison  found  him 
self  left  and  impelled  to  become  the  leader  of  the  great 
antislavery  reform,  which  must  be  thoroughly  accom 
plished  before  our  Republic  can  stand  upon  a  sure 
foundation. 

The  hearing  of  Mr.  Garrison's  lectures  was  a  great 
epoch  in  my  own  life.  The  impression  which  they  made 
upon  my  soul  has  never  been  effaced ;  indeed,  they 
moulded  it  anew.  They  gave  a  new  direction  to  my 
thoughts,  a  new  purpose  to  my  ministry.  I  had  become 
a  convert  to  the  doctrine  of  "  immediate,  unconditional 
emancipation,  —  liberation  from  slavery  without  expa 
triation." 

I  was  engaged  to  preach  on  the  following  Sunday  for 
Brother  Young,  in  Summer  Street  Church.  Of  course  I 
could  not  again  speak  to  a  congregation,  as  a  Christian 


KISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM.  21 

minister,  and  be  silent  respecting  the  great  iniquity  of 
our  nation.  The  only  sermon  I  had  brought  from  my  home 
in  Connecticut,  that  could  be  made  to  bear  on  the  sub 
ject,  was  one  on  Prejudice,  —  the  sermon  about  to  be 
published  as  one  of  the  Tracts  of  the  American  Unita 
rian  Association.  So  I  touched  it  up  as  well  as  I  could, 
interlining  here  and  there  words  and  sentences  which 
pointed  in  the  new  direction  to  which  my  thoughts  and 
feelings  so  strongly  tended,  and  writing  at  its  close 
what  used  to  be  called  an  improvement.  Thus  :  "  The 
subject  of  my  discourse  bears  most  pertinently  upon  a 
matter  of  the  greatest  national  as  well  as  personal  im 
portance.  There  are  more  than  two  millions  of  our 
fellow-beings,  children  of  the  Heavenly  Father,  who  are 
held  in  our  country  in  the  most  abject  slavery,  —  regard 
ed  and  treated  like  domesticated  animals,  their  rights 
as  men  trampled  under  foot,  their  conjugal,  parental, 
fraternal  relations  and  affections  utterly  set  at  naught. 
It  is  our  prejudice  against  the  color  of  these  poor  people 
that  makes  us  consent  to  the  tremendous  wrongs  they 
are  suffering.  If  they  were  white,  —  ay,  if  only  two 
thousand  or  two  hundred  white  men,  women,  and  children 
in  the  Southern  States  were  treated  as  these  millions 
of  colored  ones  are,  we  of  the  North  should  make  such 
a  stir  of  indignation,  we  should  so  agitate  the  country, 
with  our  appeals  and  remonstrances,  that  the  oppressors 
would  be  compelled  to  set  their  bondmen  free.  But  will 
our  jwejudice  be  accepted  by  the  Almighty,  the  impar 
tial  Judge  of  all,  as  a  valid  excuse  for  our  indifference 
to  the  wrongs  and  outrages  inflicted  upon  these  millions 
of  our  countrymen  ?  0  no  !  0  no  !  He  will  sa}T,  "  Inas 
much  as  ye  did  not  what  ye  could  for  the  relief  of  these, 
the  least  of  the  brethren,  ye  did  it  not  to  me."  Tell  me 
not  that  we  are  forbidden  by  the  Constitution  of  our 
country  to  interfere  in  behalf  of  the  enslaved.  No  com- 


22  RISE   OF   ABOLITIONISM. 

pact  our  fathers  may  have  made  for  us,  no  agreement 
we  could  ourselves  make,  would  annul  our  obligations 
to  suffering  fellow-men.  "  Yes,  yes,"  I  said,  with  an 
emphasis  that  seemed  to  startle  everybody  in  the  house, 
"  if  need  be,  the  very  foundations  of  our  Republic  must 
be  broken  up  ;  and  if  this  stone  of  stumbling,  this  rock 
of  offence,  cannot  be  removed  from  under  it,  the  proud 
superstructure  must  fall.  It  cannot  stand,  it  ought  not 
to  stand,  it  will  not  stand,  on  the  necks  of  millions  of 
men."  For  "  God  is  just,  and  his  justice  will  not  sleep 
forever."  I  then  offered  such  a  prayer  as  my  kindled 
spirit  moved  me  to,  and  gave  out  the  hymn  commen 
cing, 

"  Awake,  my  soul,  stretch  every  nerve, 
And  press  with  vigor  on." 

When  I  rose  to  pronounce  the  benediction  I  said : 
"  Every  one  present  must  be  conscious  that  the  closing 
remarks  of  my  sermon  have  caused  an  unusual  emotion 
throughout  the  church.  I  am  glad.  Would  to  God 
that  a  deeper  emotion  could  be  sent  throughout  our 
land,  until  all  the  people  thereof  shall  be  roused  from 
their  wicked  insensibility  to  the  most  tremendous  sin 
of  which  any  nation  was  ever  guilty,  and  be  impelled 
to  do  that  righteousness  which  alone  can  avert  the  just 
displeasure  of  God.  I  have  been  prompted  to  speak 
thus  by  the  words  I  have  heard  during  the  past  week 
from  a  young  man  hitherto  unknown,  but  who  is,  I  be 
lieve,  called  of  God  to  do  a  greater  work  for  the  good  of 
our  country  than  has  been  done  by  any  one  since  the 
Revolution.  I  mean  William  Lloyd  Garrison.  He  is 
going  to  repeat  his  lectures  the  coming  week.  I  ad 
vise,  I  exhort,  I  entreat  —  would  that  I  could  compel !  — 
you  to  go  and  hear  him." 

On  turning  to  Brother  Young  after  the  benediction  I 
found  that  he  was  very  much  displeased.  He  sharply 


RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM.  23 

reproved  me,  and  gave  me  to  understand  that  I  should 
never  have  an  opportunity  so  to  violate  the  propriety 
of  his  pulpit  again.  And  never  since  then  have  I  lifted 
up  my  voice  within  that  beautiful  church,  which  has 
lately  been  taken  down. 

The  excited  audience  gathered  in  clusters,  evidently 
talking  about  what  had  happened.  I  found  the  porch 
full  of  persons  conversing  in  very  earnest  tones.  Pres 
ently  a  lady  of  fine  person,  her  countenance  suffused 
with  emotion,  tears  coursing  down  her  cheeks,  pressed 
through  the  crowd,  seized  my  hand,  and  said  audibly, 
with  deep  feeling  :  "  Mr.  May,  I  thank  you.  What  a 
shame  it  is  that  I,  who  have  been  a  constant  attendant 
from  my  childhood  in  this  or  some  other  Christian 
church,  am  obliged  to  confess  that  to-day,  for  the  first 
time,  I  have  heard  from  the  pulpit  a  plea  for  the  op 
pressed,  the  enslaved  millions  in  our  land  !  "  All  within 
hearing  of  her  voice  were  evidently  moved  in  sympathy 
with  her,  or  were  awed  by  her  emotion.  For  myself  I 
could  only  acknowledge  in  a  word  my  gratitude  for  her 
generous  testimony. 

The  next  day  I  perceived,  on  his  return  from  his  place 
of  business  in  State  Street,  that  my  revered  father 
was  much  disturbed  by  the  reports  he  had  heard  of  my 
preaching.  Some  of  the  "  gentlemen  of  property  and 
standing  "  who  had  been  my  auditors  said  it  was  fanat 
ical,  others  that  it  was  incendiary,  others  that  it  wras 
treasonable,  and  begged  him  to  "  arrest  me  in  my  mad 
career."  The  only  one,  as  he  soon  afterwards  informed 
me,  who  had  spoken  in  any  other  than  terms  of  censure 
was  the  great  and  good  Dr.  Bowditch,  who  said,  "  Depend 
upon  it,  the  young  man  is  more  than  half  right."  My 
father  tried  to  dissuade  me  from  engaging  in  the  attempt 
to  overthrow  the  system  of  slavery  which  Mr.  Garrison 
proposed.  He  had  come,  with  most  others,  to  regard 


24  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

it  as  an  unavoidable  evil,  one  that  the  fathers  of  our 
Republic  had  not  ventured  to  suppress,  but  had  rather 
given  to  its  protection  something  like  a  guaranty.  He 
thought,  with  most  others  at  that  day,  that  slavery  must 
be  left  to  be  gradually  removed  by  the  progress  of  civ 
ilization,  the  growth  of  higher  ideas  of  human  nature, 
and  the  manifest  superiority  and  better  economy  of  free 
labor.  He  admonished  me  that,  in  assailing  the  institu 
tion  of  American  slavery,  I  should  only  be  "kicking 
against  the  pricks,"  that  I  should  lose  my  standing  in 
the  ministry  and  my  usefulness  in  the  church.  I  need 
not  add  that  he  failed  to  convince  me  that  "  the  foolish 
ness  of  'preaching "  would  not  yet  be  "  mighty  to  the 
pulling  down  of  the  stronghold  of  Satan."  In  less  than 
ten  years  he  was  reconciled  to  my  course. 

A  few  days  afterwards  I  gave  my  sermon  on  Preju 
dice  to  my  most  excellent  friend,  Rev.  Henry  Ware,  Jr., 
who  was  then  the  purveyor  of  tracts  for  the  American 
Unitarian  Association.  He  accepted  the  discourse  as 
originally  written,  but  insisted  that  the  interlineations 
and  the  additions  respecting  slavery  should  be  omitted. 
He  would  not  have  done  this,  nor  should  I  have  con 
sented  to  it,  a  few  years  later.  But  we  were  all  in 
bondage  then.  Unconsciously  to  ourselves,  the  hand  of 
the  slaveholding  power  lay  heavily  upon  the  rnind  and 
heart  of  the  people  in  our  Northern  as  well  as  Southern 
States. 

What  a  pity  that  my  words  in  that  sermon,  respecting 
slavery,  were  not  published  in  the  tract  !  They  might 
have  helped  a  little  to  commit  our  Unitarian  denomina 
tion  much  earlier  to  the  cause  of  impartial  liberty,  in 
earnest  protest  against  the  great  oppression,  the  unparal 
leled  iniquity  of  our  land.  Of  whom  should  opposition 
to  slavery  of  every  kind  have  been  expected  so  soon  as 
from  Unitarian  Christians  ? 


RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM.  25 

The  insensibility  of  the  people  of  our  country  to  the 
wrongs,  the  outrages,  we  were  directly  and  indirectly 
inflicting  upon  our  colored  brethren,  when  Mr.  Garrison 
commenced  the  autislavery  reform,  —  the  insensibility 
of  the  Northern  people,  scarcely  less  than  that  of  the 
Southern,  —  of  New  England  as  well  as  of  the  Carolinas 
and  Georgia,  of  the  professing  Christians,  almost  as 
much  as  of  the  political  partisans, — that  insensibility, 
not  yet  wholly  overpast,  even  in  Massachusetts,  is  a 
moral  phenomenon.  A  more  glaring  inconsistency  does 
not  appear  in  the  whole  history  of  mankind. 

The  love  of  liberty  was  an  American  passion.  We 
gloried  in  our  Revolution.  We  thought  our  fathers 
were  to  be  honored  above  all  men  for  throwing  off  the 
British  yoke.  Taxation  without  representation  was  not 
to  be  submitted  to.  "  Resistance  to  tyrants  was  obedi 
ence  to  God."  We  regarded  the  "  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  "  as  the  most  momentous  document  ever  penned 
by  mortal  man,  the  herald  note  of  deliverance  to  the 
race.  The  first  sentence  of  the  second  paragraph  of  it 
was  as  familiar  to  everybody  as  the  Lord's  Prayer ;  and 
almost  as  sacred  as  that  prayer  did  we  hold  the  words 
"  All  men  were  created  equal,  endowed  by  their  Creator 
with  certain  unalienable  rights,  among  which  are  life, 
liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  And  yet  few 
had  given  a  thought  to  the  fact  that  there  were  millions 
of  men,  women,  and  children  in  our  land  who  were  held 
under  a  heavier  bondage  than  that  to  which  the  Israel 
ites  were  subjected  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  were  denied 
all  the  rights  of  humanity,  were  herded  together  like 
brutes,  —  bought,  sold,  worked,  whipped  like  cattle. 

All  in  our  country  who  were  descendants  from  the 
Puritans,  especially  those  of  us  who  claimed  descent 
from  the  fathers  of  New  England,  were  imbued  with 
the  spirit  of  religious  liberty,  had  much  to  say  about 

2 


26  RISE  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

the  rights  of  conscience ;  but  we  gave  no  heed  to  the 
awful  fact  that  there  were  millions  in  the  land  who 
were  not  allowed  to  exercise  any  of  those  rights,  were 
not  permitted  to  read  the  Bible  or  any  other  book,  and 
were  taught  little  else  about  God,  but  that  He  was  an 
invisible,  ever-present,  almighty  overseer  of  the  planta 
tions  upon  which  they  were  worked  like  cattle,  standing 
ready  at  all  times,  everywhere,  to  inflict  upon  them,  if 
they  neglected  their  unrequited  tasks,  a  thousand-fold 
more  dreadful  punishment  than  their  earthly  tormentors 
were  able  even  to  conceive. 

We  Americans,  especially  we  New-Englanders,  were, 
or  thought  we  were,  all  alive  to  the  cause  of  human  free 
dom.  We  were  quick  to  hear  the  cry  of  the  oppressed, 
that  came  to  us  from  distant  lands.  We  stopped  not 
to  ask  the  language,  character,  or  complexion  of  the  suf 
ferers.  It  was  enough  for  us  to  know  that  they  were 
human  beings,  and  that  they  were  deprived  of  liberty. 
We  hesitated  not  to  denounce  their  tyrants. 

The  call  for  succor  which  came  to  us  from  Greece 
was  quickly  heard  and  promptly  answered  in  almost 
all  parts  of  our  country.  And  why  1  Not  because  the 
Greeks  were  a  more  virtuous  or  more  intelligent  people 
than  their  enemies.  No  ;  we  had  little  reason  to  think 
them  better  than  the  Turks.  But  they  were  the  injured 
party,  and  therefore  we  roused  ourselves  to  aid  them. 
How  much  soever  our  orators  and  poets  gathered  up  the 
hallowed  associations  which  cluster  around  that  classic 
land,  they  all  were  but  the  decorations,  not  the  point,  of 
their  appeals.  It  was  the  story  of  the  wrongs  of  the 
Grecians  which  found  the  way  to  our  hearts,  and  stirred 
us  up  to  encourage  and  succor  them  in  their  conflict 
for  liberty.  Dr.  Howe  will  tell  you  that  it  was  not 
their  admiration  of  Greece  in  her  ancient  glory,  but 
their  sympathy  for  Greece  in  her  modern  degradation, 


RISE   OF   ABOLITIONISM.  27 

that  impelled  him  and  his  chivalrous  companions  to  fly 
thither,  and  peril  their  lives  in  her  cause. 

Coming  to  us  from  any  other  land,  the  cry  for  free 
dom  sent  through  American  bosoms  a  thrilling  emotion. 
We  stopped  not  to  inquire  who  they  were  that  would  be 
free.  If  they  were  men,  we  knew  they  had  a  right  to 
liberty.  No  matter  how  the  yoke  had  been  fastened  on 
them,  —  whether  by  inheritance,  or  conquest,  or  political 
compromise,  —  we  felt  that  it  ought  to  be  broken.  And 
although  to  break  it  the  whole  social  fabric  of  their  op 
pressors  must  be  overturned,  still  we  said,  Let  the  yoke  be 
broken  ! 

Thus  we  quickly  felt,  thus  we  reasoned  and  acted,  in 
all  cases  of  oppression  excepting  one,  —  the  one  at  home, 
the  one  in  which  we  were  implicated  with  the  oppressors. 
We  were  blind,  we  were  deaf,  we  were  dumb,  to  the 
wrongs  and  outrages  inflicted  upon  one  sixth  part  of  the 
population  of  our  own  country.  In  the  Southern  States 
the  colored  people  were  held  as  property,  chattels  per 
sonal,  liable  to  all  the  incidents  of  the  estates  of  their 
owners,  could  be  seized  to  pay  their  debts,  or  mortgaged, 
or  given  away,  or  bequeathed  by  them.  To  all  intents 
and  purposes,  they  were  regarded  by  the  laws  of  those 
States,  and  might  be  legally  disposed  of,  and  otherwise 
treated,  just  like  domesticated  brute  animals.  In  most 
of  the  Northern  States  they  were  not  admitted  to  the 
prerogatives  of  citizens.  In  none  of  them  were  they 
allowed  to  enjoy  equal  social,  educational,  or  religious 
privileges  ;  nor  were  they  permitted  to  engage  in  any  of 
the  lucrative  professions,  trades,  or  handicrafts.  They 
were  condemned  to  all  the  menial  offices.  It  was  im 
possible  not  to  respect  and  value  many  of  them  as 
servants  and  nurses,  but  they  were  not  suffered  to  come 
nearer  to  white  people  in  any  domestic  or  social  relations. 
Intermarriages  with  them  were  illegal,  and  punishable 


28  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

by  heavy  penalties.  They  were  not  allowed  to  travel 
(unless  as  servants)  in  any  public  conveyances.  Their 
children  were  excluded  from  the  schools  which  white 
children  attended,  and  they  were  set  apart  in  one  cor 
ner  of  the  places  of  public  worship  called  the  houses 
of  God,  —  the  impartial  Father  of  all  men.  A  certain 
shade  of  complexion,  though  much  lighter  than  some 
brunettes,  consigned  any  one  guilty  of  it  to  the  grade 
of  the  blacks,  which  was  de-gradation.  We  were  edu 
cated  to  regard  negroes  as  an  inferior  race  of  beings,  not 
entitled  to  the  distinctive  rights  and  privileges  of  white 
men.  Ignorance,  poverty,  and  servitude  came  to  be  con 
sidered  the  birthright,  the  inheritance,  of  all  Africans 
and  their  descendants ;  and  therefore  we  did  not  feel 
the  pressure  of  their  bonds,  nor  the  smart  of  the  wounds 
that  were  continually  given  them. 

Prejudice  against  color  had  become  universal.  The 
most  elevated  were  not  superior  to  it;  the  humblest 
white  men  were  not  below  it.  Colorpkobia  was  a  disease 
that  infected  all  white  Americans.  Let  me  give  my 
readers  one  instance  of  its  virulence. 

In  1834,  being  on  a  visit  to  my  father  in  Boston,  I 
was  requested  to  call  upon  one  of  his  old  friends,  that 
he  might  dissuade  me  from  co-operating  any  further  with 
"  that  wrong-headed,  fanatical  Garrison."  The  honora 
ble  gentleman  was  very  prominent  in  the  fashionable, 
professional,  and  political  society  of  that  city.  He  had 
always  expressed  a  kind  regard  for  me,  and  had  shown 
his  confidence  by  committing  to  my  care  the  education 
of  two  of  his  sons. 

I  did  not  doubt  that  he  had  been  moved  to  send  for 
me  by  his  sincere  concern  for  what  he  deemed  my  wel 
fare.  He  received  me  with  elegant  courtesy,  as  he  was 
wont  to  do,  but  entered  at  once  upon  the  siibject  of 
"  Mr.  Garrison's  misdirected,  mischievous  enterprise." 


RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM.  29 

He  insisted  that,  while  the  negroes  ought  to  be  treated 
humanely,  the  thought  of  their  ever  being  elevated  to 
an  equality  with  white  men  was  preposterous,  and  he 
wondered  that  a  man  of  common  sense  should  entertain 
the  thought  an  hour.  He  said  :  "  Why,  they  are  evidently 
an  inferior  race  of  beings,  intended  to  be  the  servants 
of  those  on  whom  the  Creator  has  conferred  a  higher 
nature,"  and  adduced  the  arguments  which  were  then 
becoming,  and  have  since  been,  so  common  with  those 
who  would  maintain  this  position.  At  length  I  said  to 
him  :  "  Sir,  we  Abolitionists  are  not  so  foolish  as  to  re 
quire  or  wish  that  ignorant  negroes  should  be  considered 
wise  men,  or  that  vicious  negroes  should  be  considered 
virtuous  men,  or  poor  negroes  be  considered  rich  men. 
All  we  demand  for  them  is  that  negroes  shall  be  per 
mitted,  encouraged,  assisted  to  become  as  wise,  as  virtu 
ous,  and  as  rich  as  they  can,  and  be  acknowledged  to  be 
just  what  they  have  become,  and  be  treated  according 
ly."  He  replied,  with  great  emphasis  :  "  Mr.  M.,  if  you 
should  bring  me  negroes  who  had  become  the  wisest  of 
the  wise,  the  best  of  the  good,  the  richest  of  the  rich,  I 
would  not  acknowledge  them  to  be  my  equals."  "  Then," 
said  I,  "  you  might  be  laughed  at  ;  for,  if  there  be  any 
meaning  in  your  words,  such  men  would  be  your  su 
periors.  Think,  sir,  a  'moment  of  your  presuming  to 
contemn  the  wisest  of  the  wise,  the  best  of  the  good, 
the  richest  of  the  rich,  because  of  their  complexion. 
This  would  be  the  insanity  of  prejudice.  Why,  sir,"  I 
continued,  "  Rammohun  Roy  is  soon  coming  to  this 
country  ;  and  he  is  of  a  darker  hue  than  many  American 
persons  who  are  proscribed  and  degraded  because  of 
their  color."  "  Well,  sir,"  he  angrily  replied,  "  I  am  not 
one  who  will  show  him  any  respect."  "  What,"  I  cried, 
"  not  take  pains  to  know  and  treat  with  respect  Ram 
mohun  Roy  1 "  "  No,"  he  rejoined,  —  "  no,  not  even 


30  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

Rammolmu  Roy  ! "  "  Then,"  I  retorted,  "  you  will  lose 
the  honor  of  taking  by  the  hand  the  most  remarkable 
man  of  our  age."  He  was  much  offended,  and,  as  I 
afterwards  learnt,  chose  that  our  acquaintance  should 
end  with  that  interview. 

Such  was  the  prejudice  that  Mr.  Garrison  found  con 
fronting  him  everywhere,  and  it  still  is  the  greatest 
obstacle  in  our  country  to  the  progress  of  liberty  and 
the  establishment  of  peace. 

"  Truths  would  you  teach  to  save  a  sinking  land  ? 
All  fear,  none  aid  you,  and  few  understand." 

Never,  since  the  days  of  our  Saviour,  have  these  lines 
of  Pope  been  more  fully  verified  than  in  the  experience 
of  Mr.  Garrison.  So  soon  as  it  was  known  that  he 
opposed  the  Colonization  plan,  and  demanded  for  the 
enslaved  immediate  emancipation,  without  expatriation, 
he  was  at  once  generally  denounced  as  a  very  dangerous 
person.  Very  few  of  those  who  were  convinced  by  his 
facts  and  his  appeals  that  something  should  be  done 
forthwith  for  the  relief  of  our  oppressed  millions  ven 
tured,  during  the  first  twelve  months  of  his  labors,  to 
help  him.  Even  the  excellent  Deacon  Grant  would  not 
trust  him  for  paper  on  which  to  print  his  Liberator  a 
month.  And  most  of  those  who  assisted  him  to  get 
audiences  wherever  he  went,  and  who  subscribed  for  the 
Liberator,  and  who  expressed  their  best  wishes,  were 
intimidated  by  his  boldness,  frequently  half  acknowl 
edged  that  he  demanded  too  much  for  our  bondmen, 
and  could  not  be  made  to  understand  his  fundamental 
doctrine  of  "  immediate  unconditional  emancipation," 
often  and  clearly  as  he  expounded  it. 

In  November,  1831, 1  happened  again  to  be  in  Boston 
on  a  visit,  when  it  was  proposed  to  attempt  the  forma 
tion  of  an  antislavery  society.  A  meeting  was  called  at 
the  office  of  Samuel  E.  Sewall,  Esq.  Fifteen  gentlemen 


RISE   OF   ABOLITIONISM.  31 

assembled  there.  We  agreed  in  the  outset  that,  if  the 
apostolic  number  of  twelve  should  be  found  ready  to 
unite  upon  the  principles  that  should  be  thought  vital, 
and  in  a  plan  of  operations  deemed  wise  and  expedient, 
we  would  then  and  there  organize  an  association.  Mr. 
Garrison  announced  the  doctrine  of  "  immediate  eman 
cipation  "  as  being  essential  to  the  great  reform  that 
was  needed  in  our  land,  the  extirpation  of  slavery,  and 
the  establishment  of  the  human  rights  of  the  millions 
who  were  groaning  under  a  worse  than  Egyptian  bond 
age.  We  discussed  the  point  two  hours.  But  though 
we  were  the  earliest  and  most  earnest  friends  of  the 
young  reformer,  only  nine  of  us  were  brought  to  see, 
eye  to  eye  with  him,  as  to  the  right  of  the  slave  and  the 
duty  of  the  master.  Only  nine  of  us  were  brought  to 
see  that  a  man  was  a  man,  let  his  complexion  be  what 
it  might  be;  and  that  no  other  man,  not  the  most  ex 
alted  in  the  land,  could  regard  and  hold  him  a  moment 
as  his  property,  his  chattel,  witJiout  sin.  Only  nine  of  us 
were  brought  to  understand  that  the  first  thing  to  be 
done  for  those  men  held  in  the  condition  of  domesticat 
ed  brutes,  was  to  recognize,  acknowledge  their  humanity, 
and  secure  to  them  their  God-given  rights,  —  those  rights 
of  all  men  set  forth  as  inalienable  in  the  immortal 
Declaration  of  American  Independence.  Only  nine  of 
us  were  brought  to  see  that  the  first  thing  to  be  done 
for  the  improvement  of  the  condition  of  the  slave  is  to 
break  his  yoke,  to  set  him  free,  and  that  what  needs  to 
be  done  first  ought  to  be  done  without  delay,  immedi 
ately.  The  rest  of  the  company  partook  of  the  fear, 
common  at  that  day,  that  it  would  be  very  dangerous  to 
set  millions  of  slaves  free  at  once.  Although  liberty  was 
announced  to  the  world,  in  our  American  Declaration,  as 
the  birthright  of  all  the  children  of  men,  yet  were  the 
people  of  our  country  so  blinded  and  besotted  by  the 


32  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

influence  of  our  slave  system,  that  it  was  almost  univer 
sally  pronounced  unsafe  to  give  liberty  to  adult  men, 
who  were  slaves,  until  they  should  be  prepared  for  free 
dom,  and  deemed  qualified  to  exercise  it  aright.  Mr. 
Garrison  had  had  to  meet  and  combat  this  senseless  fear 
everywhere,  from  the  commencement  of  his  enterprise. 
He  had  shown  to  all  who  could  see  that  slavery  was 
not  a  school  in  which  men  could  be  educated  for  liberty  j 
that  they  could  no  more  be  trained  to  feel  and  act  as 
freemen  should,  so  long  as  they  were  kept  in  bondage, 
than  children  could  be  taught  to  walk  so  long  as  they 
were  held  in  the  arms  of  nurses.  Moreover,  he  argued, 
that  if  those  only  should  be  intrusted  with  liberty  who 
knew  how  to  use  it,  slaveholders  were  of  all  men  the 
last  that  should  be  left  free,  seeing  that  they  habitually 
outraged  liberty, — indeed,  had  been  educated  to  trample 
upon  human  rights.  Still,  his  doctrine  was  generally 
misunderstood,  egregiously  misrepresented,  and  violently 
opposed.  And,  as  I  have  stated,  only  nine  out  of  fifteen 
of  his  elect  followers,  after  he  had  been  preaching  and 
publishing  the  doctrine  a  year,  fully  believed  or  dared 
to  unite  with  him  in  announcing  it  to  the  world  as  their 
faith.  We  therefore  separated  in  November,  1831,  with 
out  having  organized.  I  returned  disappointed  to  my 
home  in  Connecticut,  eighty  miles  from  Boston  ;  too  far 
at  that  day,  ere  railroads  were  lain,  to  come,  in  the  depth 
of  winter,  to  assist  in  the  formation  of  the  New  England 
Antislavery  Society,  which  took  place  in  January,  1832. 
So  I  lost  the  honor  of  being  one  of  the  actual  founders 
of  the  first  society  based  upon  the  true  principle,  — 
immediate  emancipation. 

That  there  was  point,  vitality,  power,  in  this  doctrine 
was  proved  by  the  commotion  which  was  everywhere 
caused  by  the  promulgation  of  it.  From  one  end  of  the 
country  to  the  other  the  cry  went  forth  against  the 


\ 

RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM.  33 

editor  of  the  Liberator,  Fanatic  !  Incendiary  !  Madman  ! 
The  slaveholders  raved,  and  their  Northern  apologists 
confessed  that  they  had  too  much  cause  to  be  offended. 
Grave  statesmen  and  solemn  divines  pronounced  the 
doctrines  of  the  New  England  Abolitionists  unwise,  dan 
gerous,  false,  unconstitutional,  revolutionary.  Encour 
aged  by  these  responses,  the  slaveholding  aristocrats  grew 
so  bold  as  to  demand  that  "this  fanatical  assault  upon 
one  of  their  domestic  institutions  should  be  quelled  at 
once,"  that  the  publications  of  the  Abolitionists  should 
be  suppressed,  our  meetings  dispersed,  our  lecturers 
and  agents  arrested.  And  scarcely  had  the  Liberator 
entered  upon  its  second  year  before  a  reward  was  offered 
by  a  Southern  Legislature  for  the  abduction  of  the 
person,  or  for  the  life  of  its  editor.  And  no  Northern 
Legislature  expressed  its  alarm  or  surprise.  No  North- 
em  paper,  secular  or  religious,  reproved  these  assaults 
upon  the  liberty  of  the  press  and  the  freedom  of  speech. 
Thus  was  the  viper  ckerislied  that  has  since  stung  so 
deeply  the  bosom  of  our  Republic,  has  inflicted  a  wound 
that  is  still  open  and  festering. 

The  grossest  abuse  was  heaped  upon  Mr.  Garrison ; 
the  vilest  aspersions  cast  upon  his  character  by  those 
who  knew  nothing  of  his  private  life  ;  the  worst  designs 
imputed  to  his  great  enterprise  by  those  who  were  in 
terested  directly  or  indirectly  in  upholding  the  system 
of  iniquity  which  he  had  resolved  to  overthrow. 

One  of  the  charges  brought  against  him,  the  one 
which  probably  hindered  his  success  more  than  any 
other,  was  that  he  was  an  enemy  of  religion,  an  infidel, 
and  that  his  covert  but  real  purpose  was  to  subvert 
the  institutions  of  Christianity. 

Now  Mr.  Garrison  is,  and  ever  has  been  since  I  knew 
him,  a  profoundly  religious  man,  one  of  the  most  so  I 
have  ever  known.  No  one  really  acquainted  with  him 
2*  c 


34  RISE   OF   ABOLITIONISM. 

will  say  the  contrary,  unless  it  be  under  the  impulse  of 
a  sectarian  prejudice,  personal  resentment,  or  a  sinister 
purpose.  True,  his  doctrinal  opinions  and  his  regard 
for  rites  and  forms  have  come  to  differ  from  those  of  the 
popular  religionists  of  our  day,  as  much  as  did  the  opin 
ions  of  Jesus  Christ  differ  from  those  of  the  temple  and 
synagogue  worshippers  of  his  day.  It  would  have  been 
politic  in  him  not  to  have  incurred,  as  he  did,  the  op 
position  and  hatred  of  so  many  of  the  ministers  and 
churches  of  our  country.  But  Mr.  Garrison  knew  not 
how  to  counsel  with  the  wisdom  of  this  world.  He 
surely  had  as  much  cause  and  as  frequent  occasions 
to  expose  the  inhumanity  and  hypocrisy  of  our  country 
as  Jesus  had  to  denounce  the  scribes,  Pharisees,  and 
priests  of  Judea.  He  soon  discovered,  to  his^  astonish 
ment,  that  the  American  Church  was  the  bulwark  of 
American  slaveholders.  The  truth  of  this  accusation 
was  afterwards  elaborately  proved  by  the  Hon.  J.  G. 
Birney.  It  was  emphatically  acknowledged  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Albert  Barnes,  and  has  since  been  repeatedly  de 
clared  by  Rev.  Henry  "Ward  Beecher  and  Rev.  Dr. 
Cheever,  all  honorable,  orthodox  men.  Now,  pray,  how 
ought  a  great  captain,  though  his  army  be  a  small  one, 
—  how  ought  he  to  treat  the  bulwark  of  the  enemy  he 
means  to  subdue  1  how  but  to  assail  and  demolish  it 
if  he  can  1  God  be  praised,  Christianity  and  the  Ameri 
can  Church  were  not  then,  and  are  not  now,  identical. 
The  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  is  dearer  to  Mr.  Garrison 
than  his  own  life.  It  was  only  the  hollow-hearted  pre 
tenders  to  piety  whom  he  exposed,  censured,  ridiculed. 
He  never  uttered  from  his  pen  or  his  lips  a  word  that 
I  have  read  or  heard,  or  that  has  been  reported  to  me,  — 
not  a  word  but  in  reverence  and  love  of  the  truth  and 
the  spirit,  the  doctrines  and  the  precepts,  of  Jesus 
Christ. 


RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM.  35 

Many  of  those  who  were  interested  in  Mr.  Garrison's 
holy  purpose,  and  wished  him  success,  thought  him  too 
severe  ;  many  more  thought  him  indiscreet.  He  was 
remonstrated  with  often  earnestly.  But  he  could  not 
be  persuaded  that  it  was  not  right  and  wise  to  blame 
those  persons  most  for  our  national  sin  who  had  the 
most  influence  on  the  government,  the  policy,  the  pre 
vailing  sentiments,  the  customs,  and,  above  all,  the 
religion  of  the  nation.  Mr.  Garrison  would  sometimes 
argue,  and  argue  powerfully,  convincingly,  with  those 
who  found  fault  with  his  words  of  fiery  indignation,  and 
show  that  tamer  language  would  be  inapt,  unfelt.  At 
other  times  he  would  say,  "  Do  the  poor,  hunted,  hound 
ed,  down-trodden  slaves  think  my  language  too  severe 
or  misapplied]  Do  that  wretched  husband  and  wife 
who  have  just  now  been  separated  from  each  other  for 
ever  by  that  respectable  gentleman  in  Virginia,  —  the 
one  sold  to  be  taken  to  New  Orleans,  the  other  kept  at 
home  to  pine  in  the  hovel  made  desolate,  —  do  that 
husband  and  wife  think  my  denunciation  of  their  mas 
ter  too  severe,  because  he  is  a  judge,  or  a  governor,  or 
a  minister,  or  because  he  is  a  member  of  a  Christian 
church,  or  even  because  he  has  been  hitherto,  and  in  other 
respects,  a  kind  master  to  them  ?  Until  I  hear  such 
ones  complain  of  my  severity,  I  shall  not  doubt  its 
propriety."  "If  those  who  deserve  the  lash  feel  it  and 
wince  at  it,  I  shall  be  assured  I  am  striking  the  right 
persons  in  the  right  place."  "  I  will  be,"  are  his  memor 
able  words  that  rung  through  the  land,  —  "I  will  be  as 
harsh  as  truth,  and  as  uncompromising  as  justice.  On 
the  subject  of  slavery  I  do  not  wish  to  think  or  speak 
or  write  with  moderation.  No  !  No  !  Tell  a  man  whose 
house  is  on  fire  to  give  a  moderate  alarm  ;  tell  him  to 
moderately  rescue  his  wife  from  the  hands  of  the  ravish- 
er ;  tell  the  mother  to  gradually  extricate  her  babe  from 


36  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

the  fire  ;  but  urge  me  not  to  use  moderation  in  a  cause 
like  the  present.  I  am  in  earnest.  I  will  not  equivo 
cate  ;  I  will  not  excuse  ;  I  will  not  retreat  an  inch ;  and 
/  ivill  be  heard." 

Mr.  Garrison  will  perhaps  remember  that,  a  few 
months  after  he  commenced  the  Liberator,  when  almost 
everybody  was  finding  fault  with  him,  or  wishing  that 
he  would  be  more  temperate,  I  was  one  of  the  friends 
that  came  to  remonstrate  and  entreat.  He  and  his 
faithful  partner,  Isaac  Knapp,  were  at  work  in  the  little 
upper  chamber,  No.  G  Merchants'  Hall,  where  they  lived, 
as  well  as  they  could,  with  their  printing-press  and  types, 
all  within  an  enclosure  sixteen  or  eighteen  feet  square.  I 
requested  him  to  walk  out  with  me,  that  we  might  confer 
on  an  important  matter.  He  at  once  laid  aside  his  pen, 
and  we  descended  to  the  street.  I  informed  him  how 
much  troubled  I  had  become  for  fear  he  was  damaging 
the  cause  he  had  so  much  at  heart  by  the  undue  severity 
of  his  style.  He  listened  to  me  patiently,  tenderly.  I 
told  him  what  many  of  the  wise  and  prudent,  who  pro 
fessed  an  interest  in  his  object,  said  about  his  manner  of 
pursuing  it.  He  replied  somewhat  in  the  way  I  have 
described  above.  "But,"  said  I,  "  some  of  the  epithets 
you  use,  though  not  perhaps  too  severe,  are  not  precisely 
applicable  to  the  sin  you  denounce,  and  so  may  seem 
abusive."  "  Ah  !  "  he  rejoined,  "until  the  term  '  slave 
holder  '  sends  as  deep  a  feeling  of  horror  to  the  hearts  of 
those  who  hear  it  applied  to  any  one  as  the  terms  '  robber,' 
*  pirate,'  'murderer'  do,  we  must  use  and  multiply  epithets 
when  condemning  the  sin  of  him  who  is  guilty  of  the 
1  sum  of  all  villanies.'"  "0,"  cried  I,  "my  friend,  do 
try  to  moderate  your  indignation,  and  keep  more  cool ; 
why,  you  are  all  on  fire."  He  stopped,  laid  his  hand 
upon  my  shoulder  with  a  kind  but  emphatic  pressure, 
that  I  have  felt  ever  since,  and  said  slowly,  with  deep 


RISE   OF   ABOLITIONISM.  37 

emotion,  "  Brother  May,  I  have  need  to  be  all  on  fire, 
for  I  have  mountains  of  ice  about  me  to  melt."  From 
that  hour  to  this  I  have  never  said  a  word  to  Mr.  Garri 
son,  in  complaint  of  his  style.  I  am  more  than  half 
satisfied  now  that  he  was  right  then,  and  we  who  ob 
jected  were  mistaken. 

A  year  or  two  afterwards  I  was  in  the  study  of  Dr. 
Charming,  who,  from  the  rise  of  the  antislavery  move 
ment,  watched  it  with  deep  and  increasing  emotion,  and 
often  sent  for  me,  and  oftener  for  the  heroic  Dr.  Follen, 
to  converse  with  us  about  it.  I  was  in  the  DoctorVstudy, 
and  had  been  endeavoring  to  explain  and  reconcile  him 
to  some  measures  of  the  Abolitionists  which  I  found 
had  troubled  him,  when  he  said,  with  great  gravity  and 
earnestness,  "  But,  Mr.  May,  your  friend  Garrison's  style 
is  excessively  severe.  The  epithets  he  uses  are  harsh, 
abusive,  exasperating."  I  replied,  "  Dr.  Channing,  I 
thought  so  once  myself.  But  you  have  furnished  me  with 
a  sufficient  apology,  if  not  justification,  of  Mr.  Garrison's 
severity."  And  taking  from  his  bookcase  the  octavo 
volume  of  the  Doctor's  Discourses,  Reviews,  and  Miscel 
lanies,  published  in  1830, 1  read  parts  of  the  passage  com 
mencing  on  the  twenty-second  and  closing  on  the  twenty- 
fourth  page,  in  which  he  replies  to  the  charge,  brought 
against  the  great  Milton's  prose  writings,  of  "  party-spirit, 
coarse  invective,  and  controversial  asperity."  I  wish 
there  were  room  here  for  me  to  quote  the  whole  of  it,  it  is 
all  so  applicable  to  Mr.  Garrison ;  but  I  will  give  only  the 
close  :  "  Men  of  natural  softness  and  timidity,  of  a  sin 
cere  but  effeminate  virtue,  will  be  apt  to  look  on  these 
bolder,  hardier  spirits  as  violent,  perturbed,  uncharitable  ; 
and  the  charge  will  not  be  wholly  groundless.  But  that 
deep  feeling  of  evils,  which  is  necessary  to  effectual 
conflict  with  them,  and  which  marks  God's  most  power 
ful  messengers  to  mankind,  cannot  breathe  itself  in  soft 


38  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

and  tender  accents.  The  deeply  moved  soul  will  speak 
strongly,  and  ought  to  speak  so  as  to  move  and  shake 
nations.  We  must  not  mistake  Christian  benevolence  as 
if  it  had  but  one  voice,  —  that  of  soft  entreaty.  It  can 
speak  in  piercing  and  awful  tones.  There  is  constantly 
going  on  in  our  world  a  conflict  between  good  and  evil. 
The  cause  of  human  nature  has  always  to  wrestle  with 
foes.  All  improvement  is  a  victory  won  by  struggles. 
It  is  especially  true  of  those  great  periods  which  have 
been  distinguished  by  revolutions  in  government  and 
religion,  and  from  which  we  date  the  most  rapid  move 
ments  of  the  human  mind,  that  they  have  been  signal 
ized  by  conflict.  At  such  periods  men  gifted  with 
great  power  of  thought  and  loftiness  of  sentiment  are 
especially  summoned  to  the  conflict  with  evil.  They 
hear,  as  it  were,  in  their  own  magnanimity  and  gen 
erous  aspirations  the  voice  of  a  divinity ;  and  thus 
commissioned,  and  burning  with  a  passionate  devotion 
to  truth  and  freedom,  they  must  and  will  speak  with 
an  indignant  energy,  and  they  ought  not  to  be  meas 
ured  by  the  standard  of  ordinary  minds  in  ordinary 
times. 

"  Milton  reverenced  and  loved  human  nature,  and 
attached  himself  to  its  great  interests  with  a  fervor  of 
which  only  such  a  mind  was  capable.  He  lived  in  one 
of  those  solemn  periods  which  determine  the  character 
of  ages  to  come.  His  spirit  was  stirred  to  its  very 
centre  by  the  presence  of  danger.  He  lived  in  the 
midst  of  battle.  That  the  ardor  of  his  spirit  sometimes 
passed  the  bounds  of  wisdom  and  charity,  and  poured 
forth  unwarrantable  invective,  we  see  and  lament.  But 
the  purity  and  loftiness  of  his  mind  break  forth  amidst 
his  bitterest  invectives.  We  see  a  noble  nature  still.  We 
see  that  no  feigned  love  of  truth  and  freedom  was  a 
covering  for  selfishness  and  malignity.  He  did  indeed 


THE   CANTERBURY   SCHOOL.  39 

love  and  adore  uncorrupted  religion  and  intellectual 
liberty,  and  let  his  name  be  enrolled  among  their  truest 
champions." 

The  Doctor  bowed  and  smiled  blandly,  saying,  "  I  con 
fess  the  quotation  is  not  inapt  nor  unfairly  made." 

MISS  PRUDENCE  CRANDALL  AND  THE  CANTER 
BURY  SCHOOL. 

Often,  during  the  last  thirty,  and  more  often  during 
the  last  ten  years,  you  must  have  seen  in  the  newspapers, 
or  heard  from  speakers  in  Antislavery  and  Republican 
meetings,  high  commendations  of  the  County  of  Windham 
in  Connecticut,  as  bearing  the  .banner  of  equal  human 
and  political  rights  far  above  all  the  rest  of  that  State. 
In  the  great  election  of  the  year  1866  the  people  of 
that  county  gave  a  large  majority  of  votes  in  favor  of 
negro  suffrage. 

This  moral  and  political  elevation  of  the  public  senti 
ment  there  is  undoubtedly  owing  to  the  distinct  presen 
tation  and  thorough  discussion,  throughout  that  region, 
of  the  most  vital  antislavery  questions  in  1833  and  1834, 
called  out  by  the  shameful,  cruel  persecution  of  Miss 
Prudence  Crandall  for  attempting  to  establish  in  Canter 
bury  a  boarding-school  for  "  colored  young  ladies  and 
little  misses." 

I  was  then  living  in  Brooklyn,  the  shire  town  of  the 
county,  six  miles  from  the  immediate  scene  of  the 
violent  conflict,  and  so  was  fully  drawn  into  it.  I 
regret  that,  in  the  following  account  of  it,  allusions  to 
myself  and  my  acts  must  so  often  appear.  But  as 
./Eneas  said  to  Queen  Dido,  in  telling  his  story  of  the 
Trojan  War,  so  may  I  say,  respecting  the  contest  about 
the  Canterbury  school,  "All  of  which  I  saw,  and  part 
of  which  I  was." 


40  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

In  the  summer  or  fall  of  1832  I  heard  that  Miss 
Prudence  Crandall,  an  excellent,  well-educated  Quaker 
young  lady,  who  had  gained  considerable  reputation  as 
a  teacher  in  the  neighboring  town  of  Plainfield,  had 
been  induced  by  a  number  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  of 
Canterbury  to  purchase  a  commodious,  large  house  hi 
their  pretty  village,  and  establish  her  boarding  and  day 
school  there,  that  their  daughters  might  receive  instruc 
tion  in  several  higher  branches  of  education  not  taught 
in  the  public  district  schools,  without  being  obliged  to 
live  far  away  from  their  homes. 

For  a  while  the  school  answered  the  expectations  of 
its  patrons,  and  enjoyed  their  favor ;  but  early  in  the 
following  year  a  trouble  arose.  It  was  in  this  wise.  Not 
far  from  the  village  of  Canterbury  there  lived  a  worthy 
colored  man  named  Harris.  He  was  the  owner  of  a 
good  farm,  and  was  otherwise  in  comfortable  circum 
stances.  He  had  a  daughter,  Sarah,  a  bright  girl 
about  seventeen  years  of  age.  She  had  passed,  with 
good  repute  as  a  scholar,  though  the  school  of  the 
district  in  which  she  lived,  and  was  hungering  and 
thirsting  for  more  education.  This  she  desired  not 
only  for  her  own  sake,  but  that  she  might  go  forth  quali 
fied  to  be  a  teacher  of  the  colored  people  of  our  country, 
to  whose  wrongs  and  oppression  she  had  become  very 
sensitive.  Her  father  encouraged  her,  and  gladly  offered 
to  defray  the  expense  of  the  advantages  she  might  be 
able  to  obtain.  Sarah  applied  for  admission  into  this 
new  Canterbury  school.  Miss  Crandall  confessed  to  me 
that  at  first  she  hesitated  and  almost  refused,  lest 
admitting  her  might  offend  the  parents  of  her  pupils, 
several  of  whom  were  Colonizationists,  and  none  of  them 
Abolitionists.  But  Sarah  urged  her  request  with  no 
little  force  of  argument  and  depth  of  feeling.  Then  she 
was  a  young  lady  of  pleasing  appearance  and  manners, 


MISS  PRUDENCE  CRANDALL.          41 

well  known  to  many  of  Miss  Crandall's  pupils,  having 
been  their  class-mate  in  the  district  school.  Moreover, 
she  was  accounted  a  virtuous,  pious  girl,  and  had  been 
for  some  time  a  member  of  the  church  of  Canterbury. 
There  could  not,  therefore,  have  been  a  more  unexcep 
tionable  case.  No  objection  could  be  made  to  her  admis 
sion  into  the  school,  excepting  only  her  dark  (and  not 
very  dark)  complexion.  Miss  Crandall  soon  saw  that  she 
was  unexpectedly  called  to  take  some  part  (how  impor 
tant  she  could  not  foresee)  in  the  great  contest  for 
impartial  liberty  that  was  then  beginning  to  agitato 
violently  our  nation.  She  was  called  to  act  either  in 
accordance  with,  or  in  opposition  to,  the  unreasonable, 
cruel,  wicked  prejudice  against  the  color  of  their  victims, 
by  which  the  oppressors  of  millions  in  our  land  were 
everywhere  extenuating,  if  not  justifying,  their  tremen 
dous  system  of  iniquity.  She  bowed  to  the  claim  of 
humanity,  and  admitted  Sarah  Harris  to  her  school. 

Her  pupils,  I  believe,  made  no  objection.  But  in  a 
few  days  the  parents  of  some  of  them  called  and  remon 
strated.  Miss  Crandall  pressed  upon  their  consideration 
Sarah's  eager  desire  for  more  knowledge  and  culture,  the 
good  use  she  intended  to  make  of  her  acquirements,  her 
excellent  character  and  lady-like  deportment,  and,  more 
than  all,  that  she  was  an  accepted  member  of  the  same 
Christian  church  to  which  many  of  them  belonged.  Her 
arguments,  her  entreaties,  however,  were  of  no  avail. 
Prejudice  blinds  the  eyes,  closes  the  ears,  hardens  the 
heart.  "  Sarah  belonged  to  the  proscribed,  despised 
class,  and  therefore  must  not  be  admitted  into  a  private 
school  with  their  daughters."  This  was  the  gist  of  all 
they  had  to  say.  Reasons  were  thrown  away,  appeals  to 
their  sense  of  right,  to  their  compassion  for  injured  fellow- 
beings,  made  no  impression.  "  They  would  not  have  it 
said  that  their  daughters  went  to  school  with  a  nigger 


RISE  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

girl."  Miss  Crandall  was  assured  that,  if  she  did  not 
dismiss  Sarah  Harris,  her  white  pupils  would  be  with 
drawn  from  her. 

She  could  not  make  up  her  mind  to  comply  with  such 
a  demand,  even  to  save  the  institution  she  had  so  recent 
ly  established  with  such  fond  hopes,  and  in  which  she 
had  invested  all  her  property,  and  a  debt  of  several 
hundred  dollars  more.  It  was,  indeed,  a  severe  trial,  but 
she  was  strengthened  to  bear  it.  She  determined  to  act 
right,  and  leave  the  event  with  God.  Accordingly,  she 
gave  notice  to  her  neighbors,  and,  on  the  2d  day  of 
March,  advertised  in  the  Liberator,  that  at  the  com 
mencement  of  her  next  term,  on  the  first  Monday  of 
April,  her  school  would  be  opened  for  "  young  ladies 
and  little  misses  of  color." 

Only  a  few  days  before,  on  the  27th  of  February,  I 
was  informed  of  her  generous,  disinterested  determination, 
and  heard  that,  in  consequence,  the  whole  town  was  in  a 
flame  of  indignation,  kindled  and  fanned  by  the  influ 
ence  of  the  prominent  people  of  the  village,  her  immedi 
ate  neighbors  and  her  late  patrons.  Without  delay, 
therefore,  although  a  stranger,  I  addressed  a  letter  to 
her,  assuring  her  of  rny  sympathy,  and  of  my  readiness 
to  help  her  all  in  my  power.  On  the  4th  of  March  her 
reply  came,  begging  me  to  come  to  her  so  soon  as  my 
engagements  would  permit.  Accompanied  by  my  friend, 
Mr.  George  W.  Benson,  I  went  to  Canterbury  on  the 
afternoon  of  that  day.  On  entering  the  village  we  were 
warned  that  we  should  be  in  personal  danger  if  we  ap 
peared  there  as  Miss  Crandall's  friends ;  and  when 
arrived  at  her  house  we  learnt  that  the  excitement 
against  her  had  become  furious.  She  had  been  grossly 
insulted,  and  threatened  with  various  kinds  of  violence, 
if  she  persisted  in  her  purpose,  and  the  most  egregious 
falsehoods  had  been  put  in  circulation  respecting  her 


MISS  PRUDENCE  CRANDALL.         43 

intentions,  the  characters  of  her  expected  pupils,  and  of 
the  future  supporters  of  her  school.  Moreover,  we  were 
informed  that  a  town-meeting  was  to  be  held  on  the  9th 
instant,  to  devise  and  adopt  such  measures  as  "  would 
effectually  avert  the  nuisance,  or  speedily  abate  it,  if  it 
should  be  brought  into  the  village." 

Though  beat  upon  by  such  a  storm,  we  found  Miss 
Crandall  resolved  and  tranquil.  The  effect  of  her  Quaker 
discipline  appeared  in  every  word  she  spoke,  and  in  every 
expression  of  her  countenance.  But,  as  she  said,  it 
would  not  do  for  her  to  go  into  the  town-meeting  ;  and 
there  was  not  a  man  in  Canterbury  who  would  dare,  if 
he  were  disposed,  to  appear  there  in  her  behalf.  "  Will 
not  you,  Friend  May,  be  my  attorney  1 "  "  Certainly,"  I 
replied,  "come  what  will."  We  then  agreed  that  I 
should  explain  to  the  people  how  unexpectedly,  she  had 
been  led  to  take  the  step  which  had  given  so  much 
offence,  and  show  them  how  she  could  not  have  consent 
ed  to  the  demand  made  by  her  former  patrons  without 
wounding  deeply  the  feelings  of  an  excellent  girl,  known 
to  most  of.  them,  and  adding  to  the  mountain  load  of 
injuries  and  insults  already  heaped  upon  the  colored 
people  of  our  country.  With  this  arrangement,  we  left 
her,  to  await  the  coming  of  the  ominous  meeting  of  the 
town. 

On  the  9th  of  March  I  repaired  again  to  Miss  Cran- 
dalFs  house,  accompanied  by  my  faithful  friend,  Mr. 
Benson.  There,  to  our  surprise  and  joy,  we  found 
Friend  Arnold  Buffum,  a  most  worthy  man,  an  able 
speaker,  and  then  the  principal  lecturing  agent  of  the 
New  England  Antislavery  Society.  Miss  Crandall  gave 
to  each  of  us  a  respectful  letter  of  introduction  to  the 
Moderator  of  the  meeting,  in  which  she  requested  that 
we  might  be  heard  as  her  attorneys,  and  promised  to  be 
bound  by  any  agreement  we  might  see  fit  to  make  with 


44  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

the  citizens  of  Canterbury.  Miss  Crandall  concurred  with 
us  in  the  opinion  that,  as  her  house  was  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  in  the  village,  and  not  wholly  paid  for,  if 
her  opponents  would  take  it  off  her  hands,  repaying 
what  she  had  given  for  it,  cease  from  molesting  her, 
and  allow  her  time  to  procure  another  house  for  her 
school,  it  would  be  better  that  she  should  move  to  some 
more  retired  part  of  the  town  or  neighborhood. 

Thus  commissioned  and  instructed,  Friend  Buffum 
and  I  proceeded  to  the  town-meeting.  It  was  held  in  the 
"  Meeting-House,"  one  of  the  old  New  England  pattern, 
—  galleries  on  three  sides,  with  room  below  and  above  for 
a  thousand  persons,  sitting  and  standing.  We  found  it 
nearly  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity  \  and,  not  without 
difficulty,  we  passed  up  the  side  aisle  into  the  wall-pew 
next  to  the  deacon's  seat,  in  which  sat  the  Moderator. 
Very  soon  the  business  commenced.  After  the  "  Warn 
ing  "  had  been  read  a  series  of  Resolutions  were  laid 
before  the  meeting,  in  which  were  set  forth  the  disgrace 
and  damage  that  would  be  brought  upon  the  town  if  a 
school  for  colored  girls  should  be  set  up  there,  protesting 
emphatically  against  the  impending  evil,  and  appointing 
the  civil  authority  and  selectmen  a  committee  to  wait 
upon  "  the  person  contemplating  the  establishment  of 
said  school,  ....  point  out  to  her  the  injurious  effects, 
the  incalculable  evils,  resulting  from  such  an  establish 
ment  within  this  town,  and  persuade  her,  if  possible,  to 
abandon  the  project."  The  mover  of  the  resolutions, 
Kufus  Adams,  Esq.,  labored  to  enforce  them  by  a  speech, 
in  which  he  grossly  misrepresented  what  Miss  Crandall 
had  done,  her  sentiments  and  purposes,  and  threw  out 
several  mean  and  low  insinuations  against  the  motives 
of  those  who  were  encouraging  her  enterprise. 

As  soon  as  he  sat  down  the  Hon.  Andrew  T.  Judson 
rose.  This  gentleman  was  undoubtedly  the  chief  of 


MISS  PRUDENCE  CRANDALL.         45 

Miss  Crandall's  persecutors.  He  was  the  great  man  of 
the  town,  a  leading  politician  in  the  State,  much  talked 
of  by  the  Democrats  as  soon  to  be  governor,  and  a  few 
years  afterwards  was  appointed  Judge  of  the  United 
States  District  Court.  His  house  on  Canterbury  Green 
stood  next  to  Miss  Crandall's.  The  idea  of  having  "  a 
school  of  nigger  girls  so  near  him  was  insupportable." 
He  vented  himself  in  a  strain  of  reckless  hostility  to  his 
neighbor,  her  benevolent,  self-sacrificing  undertaking,  and 
its  patrons,  and  declared  his  determination  to  thwart 
the  enterprise.  He  twanged  every  chord  that  could 
stir  the  coarser  passions  of  the  human  heart,  and  with 
such  sad  success  that  his  hearers  seemed  to  be  filled 
with  the  apprehension  that  a  dire  calamity  was  impend 
ing  over  them,  that  Miss  Crandall  was  the  author  or 
instrument  of  it,  that  there  were  powerful  conspirators 
engaged  with  her  in  the  plot,  and  that  the  people  of 
Canterbury  should  be  roused,  by  every  consideration  of 
self-presentation,  as  well  as  self-respect,  to  prevent  the 
accomplishment  of  the  design,  defying  the  wealth  and 
influence  of  all  who  were  abetting  it. 

When  he  had  ended  his  philippic  Mr.  Buffum  and 
I  silently  presented  to  the  Moderator  Miss  Crandall's 
letters,  requesting  that  we  might  be  heard  on  her  be 
half.  He  handed  them  over  to  Mr.  Judson,  who  in 
stantly  broke  forth  with  greater  violence  than  before  ; 
accused  us  of  insulting  the  town  by  coming  there  to 
interfere  with  its  local  concerns.  Other  gentlemen 
sprang  to  their  feet  in  hot  displeasure ;  poured  out  their 
tirades  upon  Miss  Crandall  and  her  accomplices,  and,  with 
fists  doubled  in  our  faces,  roughly  admonished  us  that,  if 
we  opened  our  lips  there,  they  would  inflict  upon  us  the 
utmost  penalty  of  the  law,  if  not  a  more  immediate 
vengeance. 

Thus  forbidden  to  speak,  we  of  course  sat  in  silence, 


46  EISE  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

and  let  the  waves  of  invective  and  abuse  dash  over  us. 
But  we  sat  thus  only  until  we  heard  from  the  Moderator 
the  words,  "This  meeting  is  adjourned!"  Knowing 
that  now  we  should  violate  no  law  by  speaking,  I  sprang 
to  the  seat  on  which  I  had  been  sitting,  and  cried  out, 
"  Men  of  Canterbury,  I  have  a  word  for  you  !  Hear 
me  !  "  More  than  half  the  crowd  turned  to  listen.  I 
went  rapidly  over  my  replies  to  the  misstatements  that 
had  been  made  as  to  the  purposes  of  Miss  Crandall  and 
her  friends,  the  characters  of  her  expected  pupils,  and 
the  spirit  in  which  the  enterprise  had  been  conceived 
and  would  be  carried  on.  As  soon  as  possible  I  gave 
place  to  Friend  Buffum.  But  he  had  spoken  in  his 
impressive  manner  hardly  five  minutes,  before  the 
trustees  of  the  church  to  which  the  house  belonged 
came  in  and  ordered  all  out,  that  the  doors  might  be 
shut.  Here  again  the  hand  of  the  law  constrained  us. 
So  we  obeyed  with  the  rest,  and  having  lingered  awhile 
upon  the  Green  to  answer  questions  and  explain  to  those 
who  were  willing  "  to  understand  the  matter,"  we  de 
parted  to  our  homes,  musing  in  our  own  hearts  "  what 
would  come  of  this  day's  uproar." 

Before  my  espousal  of  Miss  CrandalPs  cause  I  had  had 
a  pleasant  acquaintance  with  Hon.  Andrew  T.  Judson, 
which  had  led  almost  to  a  personal  friendship.  Unwill 
ing,  perhaps,  to  break  our  connection  so  abruptly,  and 
conscious,  no  doubt,  that  he  had  treated  me  rudely,  not 
to  say  abusively,  at  the  town-meeting  on  the  9th,  he 
called  to  see  me  two  days  afterwards.  He  assured  me 
that  he  had  not  become  unfriendly  to  me  personally, 
and  regretted  that  he  had  used  some  expressions  and 
applied  certain  epithets  to  me,  in  the  warmth  of  his 
feelings  and  the  excitement  of  the  public  indignation  of 
his  neighbors  and  fellow-townsmen,  roused  as  they  were 
to  the  utmost  in  opposition  to  Miss  Crandall's  project, 


MISS  PRUDENCE  CRANDALL.         47 

which  he  thought  I  was  inconsiderately  and  unjustly 
promoting.  He  went  on  enlarging  upon  the  disastrous 
effects  the  establishment  of  "  a  school  for  nigger  girls  " 
in  the  centre  of  their  village  would  have  upon  its  de 
sirableness  as  a  place  of  residence,  the  value  of  real 
estate  there,  and  the  general  prosperity  of  the  town. 

I  replied  :  "If,  sir,  you  had  permitted  Mr.  Buffum 
and  myself  to  speak  at  your  town-meeting,  you  would 
have  found  that  we  had  come  there,  not  in  a  conten 
tious  spirit,  but  that  we  were  ready,  with  Miss  Crandall's 
consent,  to  settle  the  difficulty  with  you  and  your  neigh 
bors  peaceably.  We  should  have  agreed,  if  you  would 
repay  to  Miss  Crandall  what  you  had  advised  her  to 
give  for  her  house,  and  allow  her  time  quietly  to  find 
and  purchase  a  suitable  house  for  her  school  in  some 
more  retired  part  of  the  town  or  vicinity,  that  she  should 
remove  to  that  place."  The  honorable  gentleman  hard 
ly  gave  me  time  to  finish  my  sentences  ere  he  said,  with 
great  emphasis  :  — 

"  Mr.  May,  we  are  not  merely  opposed  to  the  estab 
lishment  of  that  school  in  Canterbury ;  we  mean  there 
shall  not  be  such  a  school  set  up  anywhere  in  our  State. 
The  colored  people  never  can  rise  from  their  menial 
condition  in  our  country ;  they  ought  not  to  be  per 
mitted  to  rise  here.  They  are  an  inferior  race  of  be 
ings,  and  never  can  or  ought  to  be  recognized  as  the 
equals  of  the  whites.  Africa  is  the  place  for  them.  I 
am  in  favor  of  the  Colonization  scheme.  Let  the  nig 
gers  and  their  descendants  be  sent  back  to  their  father 
land  ;  and  there  improve  themselves  as  much  as  they 
may,  and  civilize  and  Christianize  the  natives,  if  they 
can.  I  am  a  Colonizationist.  You  and  your  friend  Gar 
rison  have  undertaken  what  you  cannot  accomplish. 
The  condition  of  the  colored  population  of  our  country 
can  never  be  essentially  improved  on  this  continent. 


48  RISE   OF   ABOLITIONISM. 

You  are  fanatical  about  them.  You  are  violating  the 
Constitution  of" our  Republic,  which  settled  forever  the 
status  of  the  black  men  in  this  land.  They  belong  to 
Africa.  Let  them  be  sent  back  there,  or  kept  as  they 
are  here.  The  sooner  you  Abolitionists  abandon  your 
project  the  better  for  our  country,  for  the  niggers,  and 
yourselves." 

I  replied  :  "  Mr.  Judson,  there  never  will  be  fewer  col 
ored  people  in  this  country  than  there  are  now.  Of  the 
vast  majority  of  them  this  is  the  native  land,  as  much  as 
it  is  ours.  It  will  be  unjust,  inhuman,  in  us  to  drive  them 
out,  or  to  make  them  willing  to  go  by  our  cruel  treat 
ment  of  them.  And,  if  they  should  all  become  willing 
to  depart,  it  would  not  be  practicable  to  transport  across 
the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  settle  properly  on  the  shores  of 
Africa,  from  year  to  year,  half  so  many  of  them  as  would 
be  born  here  in  the  same  time,  according  to  the  known 
rate  of  their  natural  increase.  No,  sir,  there  will  never 
be  fewer  colored  people  in  our  country  than  there  are 
this  day ;  and  the  only  question  is,  whether  we  will  rec 
ognize  the  rights  which  God  gave  them  as  men,  and 
encourage  and  assist  them  to  become  all  he  has  made 
them  capable  of  being,  or  whether  we  will  continue 
wickedly  to  deny  them  the  privileges  we  enjoy,  con 
demn  them  to  degradation,  enslave  and  imbrute  them ; 
and  so  bring  upon  ourselves  the  condemnation  of  the 
Almighty  Impartial  Father  of  all  men,  and  the  terrible 
visitation  of  the  God  of  the  oppressed.  I  trust,  sir,  you 
will  erelong  come  to  see  that  we  must  accord  to  these 
men  their  rights,  or  incur  justly  the  loss  of  our  own. 
Education  is  one  of  the  primal,  fundamental  rights  of  all 
the  children  of  men.  Connecticut  is  the  last  place  where 
this  should  be  denied.  But  as,  in  the  providence  of 
God,  that  right  has  been  denied  in  a  place  so  near 
me,  I  feel  that  I  am  summoned  to  its  defence.  If  you 


MISS  PRUDENCE  CRANDALL.         49 

and  your  neighbors  in  Canterbury  had  quietly  consent 
ed  that  Sarah  Harris,  whom  you  knew  to  be  a  bright, 
good  girl,  should  enjoy  the  privilege  she  so  eagerly 
sought,  this  momentous  conflict  would  not  have  arisen 
in  your  village.  But  as  it  has  arisen  there,  we  may 
as  well  meet  it  there  as  elsewhere." 

"  That  nigger  school,"  he  rejoined  with  great  warmth, 
"  shall  never  be  allowed  in  Canterbury,  nor  in  any  town 
of  this  State." 

"  How  can  you  prevent  it  legally  1 "  I  inquired  ;  "  how 
but  by  Lynch  law,  by  violence,  which  you  surely  will 
not  countenance  1 " 

"  We  can  expel  her  pupils  from  abroad,"  he  replied, 
"under  the  provisions  of  our  old  pauper  and  vagrant 
laws." 

"  But  we  will  guard  against  them,"  I  said,  "  by  giving 
your  town  ample  bonds." 

"  Then,"  said  he,  "  we  will  get  a  law  passed  by  our 
Legislature,  now  in  session,  forbidding  the  institution  of 
such  a  school  as  Miss  Crandall  proposes,  in  any  part  of 
Connecticut." 

"  It  would  be  an  unconstitutional  law,  and  I  will 
contend  against  it  as  such  to  the  last,"  I  rejoined.  "  If 
you,  sir,  pursue  the  course  you  have  now  indicated,  I 
will  dispute  every  step  you  take,  from  the  lowest  court 
in  Canterbury  up  to  the  highest  court  of  the  United 
States." 

"  You  talk  big,"  he  cried  ;  "  it  will  cost  more  than 
you  are  aware  of  to  do  all  that  you  threaten.  Where 
will  you  get  the  means  to  carry  on  such  a  contest  at 
law  1" 

This  defiant  question  inspired  me  to  say,  "  Mr.  Jud- 
son,  I  had  not  foreseen  all  that  this  conversation  has 
opened  to  my  view.     True,  I  do  not  possess  the  pecuni 
ary  ability  to  do  what  you  have  made  me  promise.     I 
3  D 


50  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

have  not  consulted  any  one.  But  I  am  sure  the  lovers 
of  impartial  liberty,  the  friends  of  humanity  in  our 
land,  the  enemies  of  slavery,  will  so  justly  appreciate 
the  importance  of  sustaining  Miss  Crandall  in  her 
beneyolent,  pious  undertaking,  that  I  shall  receive  from 
one  quarter  and  another  all  the  funds  I  may  need  to 
withstand  your  attempt  to  crush,  by  legal  means,  the 
Canterbury  school."  The  sequel  of  my  story  will  show 
that  I  did  not  misjudge  the  significance  of  my  case,  nor 
put  my  confidence  in  those  who  were  not  worthy  of  it. 
Mr.  Judson  left  me  in  high  displeasure,  and  I  never  met 
him  afterwards  but  as. an  opponent. 

Undismayed  by  the  opposition  of  her  neighbors  and 
the  violence  of  their  threats,  Miss  Crandall  received 
early  in  April  fifteen  or  twenty  colored  young  ladies 
and  misses  from  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Providence, 
and  Boston.  At  once  her  persecutors  commenced  op 
erations.  All  accommodations  at  the  stores  in  Canter 
bury  were  denied  her  \  so  that  she  was  obliged  to  send 
to  neighboring  villages  for  her  needful  supplies.  She 
and  her  pupils  were  insulted  whenever  they  appeared 
in  the  streets.  The  doors  and  door-steps  of  her  house 
were  besmeared,  and  her  well  was  filled  with  filth. 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  assistance  of  her  father  and 
another  Quaker  friend  who  lived  in  the  town,  she  might 
have  been  compelled  to  abandon  "  her  castle  "  for  the 
want  of  water  and  food.  But  she  was  enabled  to  "  hold 
out,"  and  Miss  Crandall  and  her  little  band  behaved 
somewhat  like  the  besieged  in  the  immortal  Fort  Sum- 
ter.  The  spirit  that  is  in  the  children  of  men  is  usually 
roused  by  persecution.  I  visited  them  repeatedly,  and 
always  found  teacher  and  pupils  calm  and  resolute. 
They  evidently  felt  that  it  was  given  them  to  maintain 
one  of  the  fundamental,  inalienable  rights  of  man. 

Before  the  close  of  the  month,  an  attempt  was  made 


MISS   PRUDENCE   GRAND  ALL.  51 

to. frighten  and  drive  away  these  innocent  girls,  by  a 
process  under  the  obsolete  vagi-ant  law,  which  provided 
that  the  selectmen  of  any  town  might  warn  any  person, 
not  an  inhabitant  of  the  State,  to  depart  forthwith  from 
said  town  ;  demand  of  him  or  her  one  dollar  and  sixty- 
seven  cents  for  every  week  he  or  she  remained  in  said 
town  after  having  received  such  warning,  and  in  case 
such  fine  should  not  be  paid,  and  the  person  so  warned 
should  not  have  departed  before  the  expiration  of  ten 
days  after  being  sentenced,  then  he  or  she  should  be 
ivliipped  on  the  naked  body  not  exceeding  ten  stripes. 

A  warrant  to  this  effect  was  actually  served  upon 
Eliza  Ann  Hammond,  a  fine  girl  from  Providence,  aged 
seventeen  years.  Although  I  had  protected  Miss  Cran- 
dall's  pupils  against  the  operation  of  this  old  law,  by 
giving  to  the  treasurer  of  Canterbury  a  bond  in  the 
sum  of  $10,000,  signed  by  responsible  gentlemen  of 
Brooklyn,  to  save  the  town  from  the  vagrancy  of  any  of 
these  pupils,  I  feared  they  would  be  intimidated  by  the 
actual  appearance  of  the  constable,  and  the  imposition 
of  a  writ.  So,  on  hearing  of  the  above  transaction,  I 
went  down  to  Canterbury  to  explain  the  matter  if  neces 
sary  ;  to  assure  Miss  Hammond  that  the  persecutors 
would  hardly  dare  proceed  to  such  an  extremity,  and 
strengthen  her  to  bear  meekly  the  punishment,  if  they 
should  in  their  madness  inflict  it ;  knowing  that  every 
blow  they  should  strike  her  would  resound  throughout 
the  land,  if  not  over  the  whole  civilized  world,  and 
call  out  an  expression  of  indignation  before  which  Mr. 
Judson  and  his  associates  would  quail.  But  I  found 
her  ready  for  the  emergency,  animated  by  the  spirit  of 
a  martyr. 

Of  course  this  process  was  abandoned.  But  another 
was  resorted  to,  most  disgraceful  to  the  State  as  well  as 
the  town.  That  shall  be  the  subject  of  my  next. 


52  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 


THE  BLACK  LAW  OF  CONNECTICUT. 

Foiled  in  their  attempts  to  frighten  away  Miss  Cran- 
dall's  pupils  by  their  proceedings  under  the  provisions 
of  the  obsolete  "  Pauper  and  Vagrant  Law,"  Mr.  Judson 
and  his  fellow-persecutors  urgently  pressed  upon  the 
Legislature  of  Connecticut,  then  in  session,  a  demand 
for  the  enactment  of  a  law,  by  which  they  should  be 
enabled  to  effect  their  purpose.  To  the  lasting  shame 
of  the  State,  be  it  said,  they  succeeded.  On  the  24th 
of  May,  1833,  the  Black  Law  was  enacted  as  follows  : — 

"  SECTION  1.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives,  in  General  Assembly  convened,  that  no  per 
son  shall  set  up  or  establish  in  this  State  any  school,  academy, 
or  literary  institution  for  the  instruction  or  education  of  col 
ored  persons  who  are  not  inhabitants  of  this  State ;  nor  instruct 
or  teach  in  any  school,  or  other  literary  institution  whatso 
ever,  in  this  State ;  nor  harbor  or  board,  for  the  purpose  of 
attending  or  being  taught  or  instructed  in  any  such  school, 
academy,  or  literary  institution,  any  colored  person  who  is 
not  an  inhabitant  of  any  town  in  this  State,  without  the  con 
sent  in  writing,  first  obtained,  of  a  majority  of  the  civil  au 
thority,  and  also  of  the  Selectmen  of  the  town,  in  which 
such  school,  academy,  or  literary  institution  is  situated,"  &c. 

I  need  not  copy  any  more  of  this  infamous  Act.  The 
penalties  denounced  against  the  violation  of  it,  you  may 
be  sure,  were  severe  enough.  That  the  persecutors  of 
Miss  Crandall  were  determined  to  visit  them  upon  her, 
if  they  might,  the  sequel  of  my  story  will  show. 

On  the  receipt  of  the  tidings  that  the  Legislature 
had  passed  the  law,  joy  and  exultation  ran  wild  in 
Canterbury.  The  bells  were  rung  and  a  cannon  fired, 
until  all  the  inhabitants  for  miles  around  were  informed 
of  the  triumph.  So  soon  as  was  practicable,  on  the  27th 
of  June,  Miss  Crandall  was  arrested  by  the  sheriff  of 


MISS  PRUDENCE   CRANDALL.  53 

the  county,  or  the  constable  of  the  town,  and  arraigned 
before  Justices  Adams  and  Bacon,  two  of  the  leaders  of  the 
conspiracy  against  her  and  her  humane  enterprise.  The 
trial  of  course  was  a  brief  one ;  the  result  was  predeter 
mined.  Before  noon  of  that  day  a  messenger  came  to 
let  me  know  that  Miss  Crandall  had  been  "committed" 
by  the  above-named  justices,  to  take  her  trial  at  the 
next  session  of  the  Superior  Court  at  Brooklyn  in 
August ;  that  she  was  in  the  hands  of  the  sheriff  and 
would  be  put  into  jail,  unless  I  or  some  of  her  friends 
would  come  and  "  give  bonds  "  for  her  in  the  sum  of 
$  300  or  $  500,  1  forget  which.  I  calmly  told  the  mes 
senger  that  there  were  gentlemen  enough  in  Canter 
bury  whose  bond  for  that  amount  would  be  as  good  or 
better  than  mine ;  and  I  should  leave  it  for  them  to  do 
Miss  Crandall  that  favor.  "But,"  said  the  young  man, 
"  are  you  not  her  friend  ?  "  "  Certainly,"  I  replied,  "  too 
sincerely  her  friend  to  give  relief  to  her  enemies  in  their 
present  embarrassment ;  and  I  trust  you  will  not  find 
any  one  of  her  friends,  or  the  patrons  of  her  school,  who 
will  step  forward  to  help  them  any  more  than  myself." 
"  But,  sir,"  he  cried,  "  do  you  mean  to  allow  her  to  be 
put  into  jail  1 "  "  Most  certainly,"  was  my  answer,  "  if 
her  persecutors  are  unwise  enough  to  let  such  an  outrage 
be  committed."  He  turned  from  me  in  blank  surprise, 
and  hurried  back  to  tell  Mr.  Judson  and  the  justices  of 
his  ill  success. 

A  few  days  before,  when  I  first  heard  of  the  passage 
of  the  law,  I  had  visited  Miss  Crandall  with  my  friend 
Mr.  George  W.  Benson,  and  advised  with  her  as  to  the 
course  she  and  her  friends  ought  to  pursue,  when  she 
should  be  brought  to  trial.  She  appreciated  at  once 
and  fully  the  importance  of  leaving  her  persecutors  to 
show  to  the  world  how  base  they  were,  and  how  atro 
cious  was  the  law  they  had  induced  the  Legislature  to 


54  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

enact,  —  a  law,  by  the  force  of  which  a  woman  might 
be  fined  and  imprisoned  as  a  felon,  in  the  State  of  Con 
necticut,  for  giving  instruction  to  colored  girls.  She 
agreed  that  it  would  be  best  for  us  to  leave  her  in  the 
hands  of  those  with  whom  the  law  originated,  hoping 
that,  in  their  madness,  they  would  show  forth  all  its 
hideous  features. 

Mr.  Benson  and  I  therefore  went  diligently  around  to 
all  whom  we  knew  were  friendly  to  Miss  Crandall  and  her 
school,  and  counselled  them  by  no  means  to  give  bonds 
to  keep  her  from  imprisonment,  because  nothing  would 
expose  so  fully  to  the  public  the  egregious  wickedness 
of  the  law,  and  the  virulence  of  her  persecutors,  as  the- 
fact  that  they  had  thrust  her  into  jail. 

When  I  found  that  her  resolution  was  equal  to  the 
trial  which  seemed  to  be  impending,  that  she  was 
ready  to  brave  and  to  bear  meekly  the  worst  treatment 
that  her  enemies  would  venture  to  subject  her  to,  I 
made  all  the  arrangements  for  her  comfort  that  were 
practicable  in  our  prison.  It  fortunately  so  happened 
that  the  most  suitable  room,  not  occupied,  was  the  one 
in  which  a  man  named  Watkins  had  recently  been  con 
fined  for  the  murder  of  his  wife,  and  out  of  which  he 
had  been  taken  and  executed.  This  circumstance,  we 
foresaw,  would  add  not  a  little  to  the  public  detestation 
of  the  Black  Law. 

The  jailer,  at  my  request,  readily  put  the  room  in  as 
nice  order  as  was  possible,  and  permitted  me  to  substi 
tute,  for  the  bedstead  and  mattress  on  which  the  mur 
derer  had  slept,  fresh  and  clean  ones  from  my  own  house 
and  Mr.  Benson's. 

About  two  o'clock  P.  M.  another  messenger  came  to 
inform  me  that  the  sheriff  was  on  the  way  from  Canter 
bury  to  the  jail  with  Miss  Crandall,  and  would  imprison 
her,  unless  her  friends  would  give  him  the  required  bail. 


MISS   PRUDENCE   GRAND  ALL.  55 

Although  ill  sympathy  with  Miss  CrandalPs  persecutors, 
he  clearly  saw  the  disgrace  that  was  about  to  be  brought 
upon  the  State,  and  begged  me  and  Mr.  Benson  to  avert 
it.  Of  course  we  refused.  I  went  to  the  jailer's  house 
and  met  Miss  Crandall  on  her  arrival.  We  stepped 
aside.  I  said  :  — 

"If  now  you  hesitate,  if  you  dread  the  gloomy 
place  so  much  as  to  wish  to  be  saved  from  it,  I  will 
give  bonds  for  you  even  now." 

"0  no,"  she  promptly  replied;  "I  am  only  afraid 
they  will  not  put  me  into  jail.  Their  evident  hesitation 
and  embarrassment  show  plainly  how  much  they  depre 
cate  the  eifect  of  this  part  of  their  folly  ;  and  therefore 
I  am  the  more  anxious  that  they  should  be  exposed,  if 
not  caught  in  their  own  wicked  devices." 

We  therefore  returned  with  her  to  the  sheriff  and  the 
company  that  surrounded  him  to  await  his  final  act. 
He  was  ashamed  to  do  it.  He  knew  it  would  cover  the 
persecutors  of  Miss  Craiidall  and  the  State  of  Connecti 
cut  with  disgrace.  He  conferred  with  several  about 
him,  and  delayed  yet  longer.  Two  gentlemen  came  and 
remonstrated  with  me  in  not  very  seemly  terms  :  — 

"  It  would  be  a shame,  an  eternal  disgrace  to  the 

State,  to  have  her  put  into  jail, — into  the  very  room 
that  Watkins  had  last  occupied." 

"  Certainly,  gentlemen,"  I  replied,  "  and  you  may 
prevent  this  if  you  please." 

"  0,"  they  cried,  "  we  are  not  her  friends ;  we  are 

not  in  favor  of  her  school ;  we  don't  want  any  more 

niggers  coming  among  us.  It  is  your  place  to  stand  by 

Miss  Crandall  and  help  her  now.  You  and  your 

abolition  brethren  have  encouraged  her  to  bring  this 

nuisance  into  Canterbury,  and  it  is mean  in  you  to 

desert  her  now." 

I  rejoined :  "  She  knows  we  have  not  deserted  her, 


56  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

and  do  not  intend  to  desert  her.  The  law  which  her 
persecutors  have  persuaded  our  legislators  to  enact  is  an 
infamous  one,  worthy  of  the  Dark  Ages.  It  would  be 
just  as  bad  as  it  is,  whether  we  should  give  bonds  for 
her  or  not.  But  the  people  generally  will  not  so  soon 
realize  how  bad,  how  wicked,  how  cruel  a  law  it  is,  un 
less  we  suffer  her  persecutors  to  inflict  upon  her  all  the 
penalties  it  prescribes.  She  is  willing  to  bear  them  for 
the  sake  of  the  cause  she  has  so  nobly  espoused.  And 
it  is  easy  to  foresee  that  Miss  Crandall  will  be  glorified, 
as  much  as  her  persecutors  and  our  State  will  be  dis 
graced,  by  the  transactions  of  this  day  and  this  hour. 
If  you  see  fit  to  keep  her  from  imprisonment  in  the  cell 
of  a  murderer  for  having  proffered  the  blessing  of  a 
good  education  to  those  who,  in  our  country,  need  it 
most,  you  may  do  so  ;  we  shall  not." 

They  turned  from  us  in  great  wrath,  words  falling 
from  their  lips  which  I  shall  not  repeat. 

The  sun  had  descended  nearly  to  the  horizon ;  the 
shadows  of  night  were  beginning  to  fall  around  us.  The 
sheriff  could  defer  the  dark  deed  no  longer.  With  no 
little  emotion,  and  with  words  of  earnest  deprecation, 
he  gave  that  excellent,  heroic,  Christian  young  lady  into 
the  hands  of  the  jailer,  and  she  was  led  into  the  cell  of 
"Watkins.  So  soon  as  I  had  heard  the  bolts  of  her  prison- 
door  turned  in  the  lock,  and  saw  the  key  taken  out,  I 
bowed  and  said,  "The  deed  is  done,  completely  done. 
It  cannot  be  recalled.  It  has  passed  into  the  history 
of  our  nation  and  our  age."  I  went  away  with  my 
steadfast  friend,  George  W.  Benson,  assured  that  the 
legislators  of  the  State  had  been  guilty  of  a  most  un 
righteous  act ;  and  that  Miss  Crandall's  persecutors  had 
also  committed  a  great  blunder  ;  that  they  all  would 
have  much  more  reason  to  be  ashamed  of  her  imprison 
ment  than  she  or  her  friends  could  ever  have. 


MISS   PRUDENCE   CK  AND  ALL.  57 

The  next  day  we  gave  the  required  bonds.  Miss 
Crandall  was  released  from  the  cell  of  the  murderer, 
returned  home,  and  quietly  resumed  the  duties  of  her 
school,  until  she  should  be  summoned  as  a  culprit  into 
court,  there  to  be  tried  by  the  infamous  "  Black  Law  of 
Connecticut."  And,  as  we  expected,  so  soon  as  the  evil 
tidings  could  be  carried  in  that  day,  before  Professor  Morse 
had  given  to  Rumor  her  telegraphic  wings,  it  was  known 
all  over  the  country  and  the  civilized  world  that  an  ex 
cellent  young  lady  had  been  imprisoned  as  a  criminal,  — 
yes,  put  into  a  murderer's  cell,  —  in  the  State  of  Con 
necticut,  for  opening  a  school  for  the  instruction  of  col 
ored  girls.  The  comments  that  were  made  upon  the 
deed  in  almost  all  the  newspapers  were  far  from  grate 
ful  to  the  feelings  of  her  persecutors.  Even  many  who, 
under  the  same  circumstances,  would  probably  have 
acted  as  badly  as  Messrs.  A.  T.  Judson  and  Company,  de 
nounced  their  procedure  as  unchristian,  inhuman,  anti 
democratic,  base,  mean. 

ARTHUR  TAPPAN. 

The  words  and  manner  of  Mr.  Judson  in  the  inter 
view  I  had  with  him  on  the  llth  of  March,  of  which  I 
have  given  a  pretty  full  report,  convinced  me  that  he 
would  do  all  that  could  be  done  by  legal  and  political 
devices,  to  abolish  Miss  Crandall's  school.  His  success 
in  obtaining  from  the  Legislature  the  enactment  of  the 
infamous  "  Black  Law "  showed  too  plainly  that  the 
majority  of  the  people  of  the  State  were  on  the  side  of 
the  oppressor.  But  I  felt  sure  that  God  and  good  men 
would  be  our  helpers  in  the  contest  to  which  we  were 
committed.  Assurances  of  approval  and  of  sympathy 
came  from  many ;  and  erelong  a  proffer  of  all  the  pecu 
niary  assistance  we  could  need  was  made  by  one  who 
3* 


58  EISE   OF   ABOLITIONISM. 

was  then  himself  a  host.  At  that  time  Mr.  Arthur 
Tappan  was  one  of  the  wealthiest  merchants  in  the 
country,  and  was  wont  to  give  to  religious  and  philan 
thropic  objects  as  much,  in  proportion  to  his  means,  as 
any  benefactor  who  has  lived  in  the  land  before  or  since 
his  day.  I  was  not  then  personally  acquainted  with 
him,  but  he  had  become  deeply  interested  in  the  cause 
of  the  poor,  despised,  enslaved  millions  in  our  country, 
and  alive  to  whatever  affected  them. 

Much  to  my  surprise,  and  much  more  to  my  joy,  a 
few  weeks  after  the  commencement  of  the  contest,  and 
just  after  the  enactment  of  the  Black  Law  and  the  im 
prisonment  of  Miss  Crandall,  I  received  from  Mr.  Tap- 
pan  a  most  cordial  letter.  He  expressed  his  entire  ap 
probation  of  the  position  I  had  taken  in  defence  of  Miss 
Oandall's  benevolent  enterprise,  and  his  high  apprecia 
tion  of  the  importance  of  maintaining,  in  Connecticut 
especially,  the  right  of  colored  people,  not  less  than  of 
white,  to  any  amount  of  education  they  might  wish  to 
obtain,  and  the  respect  and  encouragement  due  to  any 
teacher  who  would  devote  himself  or  herself  to  their 
instruction.  He  added  :  "  This  contest,  in  which  you 
have  been  providentially  called  to  engage,  will  be  a  se 
rious,  perhaps  a  violent  one.  It  may  be  prolonged  and 
very  expensive.  Nevertheless,  it  ought  to  be  persisted 
in  to  the  last.  I  venture  to  presume,  sir,  that  you 
cannot  well  afford  what  it  may  cost.  You  ought  not  to 
be  left,  even  if  you  are  willing,  to  bear  alone  the  pecuni 
ary  burden.  I  shall  be  most  happy  to  give  you  all  the 
help  of  this  sort  that  you  may  need.  Consider  me 
your  banker.  Spare  no  necessary  expense.  Command 
the  services  of  the  ablest  lawyers.  See  to  it  that  this 
great  case  shall  be  thoroughly  tried,  cost  what  it  may. 
I  will  cheerfully  honor  your  drafts  to  enable  you  to 
defray  that  cost."  Thus  upheld,  you  will  not  wonder 


MISS  PRUDENCE   GRAND  ALL.  59 

that  I  was  somewhat  elated.  At  Mr.  Tappan's  sugges 
tion  I  immediately  "  retained  "  the  Hon.  William  W. 
Ellsworth,  the  Hon.  Calvin  Goddard,  and  the  Hon. 
Henry  Strong,  the  three  most  distinguished  members  of 
the  Connecticut  bar.  They  all  confirmed  me  in  the 
opinion  that  the  "  Black  Law "  was  unconstitutional, 
and  would  probably  "be  so  pronounced,  if  we  should 
carry  it  up  to  the  United  States  Court.  They  moreover 
instructed  me  that,  as  the  act  for  which  Miss  Crandall 
was  to  be  tried  was  denounced  as  criminal,  it  would  be 
within  the  province  of  the  jury  of  our  State  court  to 
decide  upon  the  character  of  the  law,  as  well  as  the 
conduct  of  the  accused  ;  and  that  therefore  it  would  be 
allowable  and  proper  for  them  to  urge  the  wickedness  of 
the  law,  in  bar  of  Miss  Crandall's  condemnation  under 
it.  But,  before  we  get  to  the  trials  of  Miss  Crandall 
under  Mr.  Judson's  law,  I  have  more  to  tell  about  Mr. 
Arthur  Tappan.  • 

He  requested  me  to  keep  him  fully  informed  of  the 
doings  of  Miss  Crandall's  persecutors.  And  I  assure 
you  I  had  too  many  evil  things  to  report  of  them. 
They  insulted  and  annoyed  her  and  her  pupils  in  every 
way  their  malice  could  devise.  The  storekeepers,  the 
butchers,  the  milk-pedlers  of  the  town,  all  refused  to 
supply  their  wants  ;  and  whenever  her  father,  brother,  or 
other  relatives,  who  happily  lived  but  a  few  miles  off, 
were  seen  coming  to  bring  her  and  her  pupils  the  neces 
saries  of  life,  they  were  insulted  and  threatened.  Her 
well  was  defiled  with  the  most  offensive  filth,  and  her 
neighbors  refused  her  and  the  thirsty  ones  about  her 
even  a  cup  of  cold  water,  leaving  them  to  depend 
for  that  essential  element  upon  the  scanty  supplies  that 
could  be  brought  from  her  father's  farm.  Nor  was  this 
all ;  the  physician  of  the  village  refused  to  minister  to 
any  who  were  sick  in  Miss  Crandall's  family,  and  the  trus- 


60  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

tees  of  the  church  forbade  her  to  come,  with  any  of  her 
pupils,  into  the  House  of  the  Lord. 

In  addition  to  the  insults  and  annoyances  mentioned 
above,  the  newspapers  of  the  county  and  other  parts 
of  the  State  frequently  gave  currency  to  the  most 
egregious  misrepresentations  of  the  conduct  of  Miss 
Crandall  and  her  pupils,  and  the  basest  insinuations 
against  her  friends  and  patrons.  Yet  our  corrections 
and  replies  were  persistently  refused  a  place  in  their 
columns.  The  publisher  of  one  of  the  county  papers, 
who  was  personally  friendly  to  me,  and  whom  I  had 
assisted  to  establish  in  business,  confessed  to  me  that 
he  dared  not  admit  into  his  paper  an  article  in  defence 
of  the  Canterbury  school.  It  would  be,  he  said,  the 
destruction  of  his  establishment.  Thus  situated,  we 
were  continually  made  to  feel  the  great  disadvantage 
at  which  we  were  contending  with  the  hosts  of  our 
enemies. 

In  one  of  my  letters  to  Mr.  Tappan,  when  thus  sorely 
pressed,  I  let  fall  from  my  pen,  "  0  that  I  could  only 
leave  home  long  enough  to  visit  you !  For  I  could  tell 
you  in  an  hour  more  things,  that  I  wish  you  to  know, 
than  I  can  write  in  a  week." 

A  day  or  two  afterwards,  about  as  quickly  as  he  could 
then  get  to  me  after  the  receipt  of  my  letter,  the  door 
of  my  study  was  opened,  and  in  walked  Arthur  Tappan. 
I  sprang  to  my  feet,  and  gave  him  a  pressure  of  the 
hand  which  told  him  more  emphatically  than  words 
could  have  done  how  overjoyed  I  was  to  see  him.  In 
his  usual  quiet  manner  and  undertone  he  said,  "  Your 
last  letter  implied  that  you  were  in  so  much  trouble  I 
thought  it  best  to  come  and  see,  and  consider  with  you 
what  it  will  be  advisable  for  us  to  do."  I  soon  spread 
before  him  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  —  the  peculiar 
difficulties  by  which  we  were  beset,  the  increased  and 


MISS  PRUDENCE  CRANDALL.         61 

increasing  malignity  of  Miss  CrandalTs  persecutors, 
provoked,  and  almost  justified  in  the  public  opinion,  by 
the  false  reports  that  were  diligently  circulated,  and 
•which  we  had  no  means  of  correcting.  "  Let  me  go,"  said 
he,  "and  see  for  myself  Miss  Crandall  and  her  school,  and 
learn  more  of  the  particulars  of  the  sore  trials  to  which 
her  benevolence  and  her  fortitude  seem  to  be  subject 
ed."  As  soon  as  possible  the  horse  and  chaise  were 
brought  to  the  door,  and  the  good  man  went  to  Canter 
bury.  In  a  few  hours  he  returned.  He  had  been 
delighted,  nay,  deeply  affected,  by  the  calm  determi 
nation  which  Miss  Crandall  evinced,  and  the  quiet 
courage  with  which  she  had  inspired  her  pupils.'  He 
had  learned  that  the  treatment  to  which  they  were  sub 
jected  by  their  neighbors  was  in  some  respects  worse 
even  than  I  had  represented  it  to  him  ;  and  he  said  in 
a  low,  firm  tone  of  voice,  which  showed  how  thoroughly 
in  earnest  he  was,  she  must  be  protected  and  sustained. 
"The  cause  of  the  whole  oppressed,  despised  colored 
population  of  our  country  is  to  be  much  affected  by 
the  decision  of  this  question." 

After  some  further  consultation  he  rose  to  his  feet 
and  said,  "  You  are  almost  helpless  without  the  press. 
You  must  issue  a  paper,  publish  it  largely,  send  it  to  all 
the  persons  whom  you  know  in  the  county  and  State, 
and  to  all  the  principal  newspapers  throughout  the 
country.  Many  will  subscribe  for  it  and  contribute 
otherwise  to  its  support,  and  I  will  pay  whatever  more 
it  may  cost."  No  sooner  said  than  done.  We  went 
without  delay  to  the  village,  where  fortunately  there  was 
a  pretty-well-furnished  printing-office  that  had  been 
lately  shut  up  for  want  of  patronage.  We  found  the 
proprietor,  examined  the  premises,  satisfied  ourselves 
that  there  were  materials  enough  to  begin  with,  and 
Mr.  Tappan  engaged  for  my  use  for  a  year  the  office, 


62  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

press,  types,  and  whatever  else  was  necessary  to  com 
mence  at  once  the  publication  of  a  newspaper,  to  be 
devoted  to  the  advocacy  of  all  human  rights  in  general, 
and  to  the  defence  of  the  Canterbury  school,  and  its 
heroic  teacher  in  particular. 

We  walked  back  to  my  house  communing  together 
about  the  great  conflict  for  liberty  to  which  we  were 
committed,  the  spirit  in  which  it  ought  to  be  conducted 
on  our  part,  and  especially  the  course  to  be  pursued  in 
the  further  defence  of  Miss  Crandall.  Soon  after  the 
stage-coach  came  along.  Mr.  Tappan,  after  renewed 
assurances  of  support,  gave  me  a  hearty  farewell  and 
stepped  on  board  to  return  to  New  York.  He  left  me 
the  proprietor  of  a  printing-office,  and  with  ample  means 
to  maintain,  as  far  as  might  be  necessary,  the  defence 
of  the  Canterbury  school  against  the  unrighteous  and 
unconstitutional  law  of  the  State  of  Connecticut.  I 
need  now  only  add  that  the  trials  at  law  were  protract 
ed  until  August,  1834,  and  that  they,  together  with 
the  conduct  of  the  newspaper,  cost  me  more  than  six 
hundred  dollars,  all  of  which  amount  was  most  prompt 
ly  and  kindly  paid  by  that  true  philanthropist,  — Arthur 
Tappan. 

CHARLES  C.  BURLEIGH. 

The  excitement  caused  by  Mr.  Tappan's  unexpected 
visit,  the  hearty  encouragement  he  had  given  me,  and 
the  great  addition  he  had  made  to  my  means  of  defence, 
altogether  were  so  grateful  to  me  that  I  did  not  at  first 
fully  realize  how  much  I  had  undertaken  to  do.  But  a 
night's  rest  brought  me  to  my  senses,  and  I  clearly  saw 
that  I  must  have  some  other  help  than  even  Mr.  Tap- 
pan's  pecuniary  generosity  could  give  me.  I  was  at 
that  time  publishing  a  religious  paper,  —  The  Christian 
Monitor,  —  which,  together  with  my  pulpit  and  parochial 


MISS  PRUDENCE   GRAND  ALL.  63 

duties,  filled  quite  full  the  measure  of  my  ability.  Un 
fortunately  the  prospectus  of  The  Monitor,  issued  a  year 
before  the  beginning  of  the  Canterbury  difficulty,  pre 
cluded  from  its  columns  all  articles  relating  to  personal 
or  neighborhood  quarrels.  Therefore,  though  the  editor 
of  a  paper,  I  could  not,  in  that  paper,  repel  the  most 
injurious  attacks  that  were  made  upon  my  character. 
Had  it  been  otherwise,  there  would  have  been  no  need 
of  starting  another  paper.  But,  as  Mr.  Tappan  prompt 
ly  allowed,  another  paper  must  be  issued,  and  to  edit 
two  papers  at  the  same  time  was  wholly  beyond  my 
power.  What  should  I  do  1 

Soon  after  the  enactment  of  the  "  Black  Law  "  an  ad 
mirable  article,  faithfully  criticising  it,  had  appeared 
in  The  Genius  of  Temperance,  and  been  copied  into  The 
Emancipator.  It  was  attributed  to  Mr.  Charles  C.  Bur- 
leigh,  living  in  the  adjoining  town  of  Plaiufield.  I 
had  heard  him  commended  as  a  young  man  of  great 
promise,  and  had  once  listened  to  an  able  speech  from 
him  at  a  Colonization  meeting.  To  him,  therefore,  in 
the  need  of  help,  my  thoughts  soon  turned.  And  the 
morning  after  Mr.  Tappan's  visit  I  drove  over  to  Plain- 
field.  Mr.  Burleigh  was  living  with  his  parents,  and 
helping  them  carry  on  their  farm,  while  pursuing  as  he 
could  his  studies  preparatory  to  the  profession  of  a  law 
yer.  It  was  Friday  of  the  week,  in  the  midst  of  haying 
time.  I  was  told  at  the  house  that  he  was  in  the  field 
as  busy  as  he  could  be.  Nevertheless,  I  insisted  that 
my  business  with  him  was  more  important  than  haying. 
So  he  was  sent  for,  and  in  due  time  appeared.  Like 
other  sensible  men,  at  the  hard,  hot  work  of  haying,  he 
was  not  attired  in  his  Sunday  clothes,  but  in  his  shirt 
sleeves,  with  pants*  the  worse  for  wear ;  and,  although 
he  then  believed  in  shaving,  no  razor  had  touched  his 
beard  since  the  first  day  of  the  week.  Nevertheless,  I 


64  KISE  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

do  not  believe  that  Samuel  of  old  saw,  in  the  ruddy  son 
of  Jesse,  as  he  came  up  from  the  sheepfold,  the  man 
whom  the  Lord  would  have  him  anoint,  more  clearly 
than  I  saw  in  C.  C.  Burleigh  the  man  whom  I  should 
choose  to  be  my  assistant  in  that  emergency.  So  soon 
as  I  had  told  him  what  I  wanted  of  him  his  eye  kindled 
as  if  eager  for  the  conflict.  We  made  an  arrangement 
to  supply  his  place  on  his  father's  farm,  and  he  engaged 
to  come  to  me  early  the  following  week.  On  Monday, 
the  14th  of  July,  1833,  according  to  promise,  he  came 
to  Brooklyn.  He  then  put  on  the  harness  of  a  soldier 
in  the  good  fight  for  equal,  impartial  liberty,  and  he  has 
not  yet  laid  it  aside,  nor  are  there  many,  if  indeed  any, 
of  the  antislavery  warriors  who  have  done  more  or  better 
service  than  Mr.  Burleigh. 

On  the  25th  of  July,  1833,  appeared  the  first  number 
of  our  paper,  called  The  Unionist.  After  the  first  two 
or  three  numbers  most  of  the  articles  were  written  or 
selected  by  Mr.  Burleigh,  and  it  was  soon  acknowledged 
by  the  public  that  the  young  editor  wielded  a  powerful 
weapon.  The  paper  was  continued,  if  I  remember  cor 
rectly,  about  two  years,  and  it  helped  us  mightily  in  our 
controversy  with  the  persecutors  of  Miss  Crandall.  After 
a  few  months  C.  C.  Burleigh  associated  with  him,  in  the 
management  of  The  Unionist,  his  brother,  Mr.  William  H. 
Burleigh,  who  also,  at  the  same  time,  assisted  Miss 
Crandall  in  the  instruction  of  her  school ;  and  for  so 
doing  suffered  not  a  little  obloquy,  insult,  and  abuse. 

It  was  still  the  cherished  intention  of  C.  C.  Burleigh  to 
devote  himself  to  the  law,  and  without  neglecting  his 
duties  to  The  Unionist  he  so  diligently  and  successfully 
pursued  his  preparatory  studies,  that  in  January,  1835, 
he  was  examined  and  admitted  to  the  bar.  The  com 
mittee  of  examination  were  surprised  at  his  proficiency. 
He  was  pronounced  the  best  prepared  candidate  that 


MISS  PRUDENCE  CRANDALL.         65 

had  been  admitted  to  the  Windham  County  Bar  within 
the  memory  of  those  who  were  then  practising  there ; 
and  confident  predictions  were  uttered  by  the  most 
knowing  ones  of  his  rapid  rise  to  eminence  in  the  pro 
fession.  Scarcely  did  Wendell  Phillips  awaken  higher 
expectations  of  success  as  a  lawyer  in  Boston,  than  C. 
C.  Burleigh  had  awakened  in  Brooklyn.  But  just  at  the 
time  of  his  admission  I  received  a  letter  from  Dr.  Farns- 
worth,  of  Groton,  Massachusetts,  then  President  of  the 
Middlesex  Antislavery  Society,  inquiring  urgently  for 
some  able  lecturer,  whose  services  could  be  obtained  as 
the  general  agent  of  that  Society.  I  knew  of  no  one  so 
able  as  C.  C.  Burleigh.  So  I  called  upon  him,  told  him 
of  the  many  high  compliments  I  had  heard  bestowed 
upon  his  appearance  on  the  examination,  and  then 
said,  "  Now  I  have  already  a  most  important  case,  in 
which  to  engage  your  services,"  and  showed  him  Dr. 
Farnsworth's  letter.  For  a  few  minutes  he  hesitated, 
and  his  countenance  fell.  The  bright  prospect  of  pro 
fessional  eminence  was  suddenly  overcast.  He  more 
than  suspected  that,  if  he  accepted  the  invitation,  he 
should  get  so  engaged  in  the  antislavery  cause  as  to  be 
unable  to  leave  the  field  until  after  its  triumph.  He 
would  have  to  renounce  all  hope  of  wealth  or  political 
preferment,  and  'lead  a  life  of  continual  conflict  with 
ungenerous  opponents  ;  be  poorly  requited  for  his  labors, 
and  suffer  contumely,  hatred,  persecution.  I  saw  what 
was  passing  in  his  mind,  and  that  the  struggle  was  se 
vere.  But  it  lasted  only  a  little  while,  — less  than  an 
hour.  A  bright  and  beautiful  expression  illuminated 
his  countenance  when  he  replied,  "  This  is  not  what  I 
expected  or  intended,  but  it  is  what  I  ought  to  do.  I 
will  accept  the  invitation."  He  did  so.  Before  the 
close  of  the  week  he  departed  for  his  field  of  labor. 
And  I  believe  he  ceased  not  a  day  to  be  the  agent  of 


66  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

one  antislavery  society  or  another,  until  after  the 
lamented  President  Lincoln  had  proclaimed  emancipa 
tion  to  all  who  were  in  bondage  in  our  land. 

When,  in  April,  1835,  I  became  the  General  Agent 
of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society,  I  was  brought 
into  more  intimate  relations  with  Mr.  Burleigh.  We 
were  indeed  fellow-laborers.  Repeatedly  did  we  go 
forth  together  on  lecturing  excursions,  and  never  was 
I  better  sustained.  With  him  as  my  companion  I  felt 
sure  our  course  would  be  successful.  I  always  insisted 
upon  speaking  first ;  for,  if  I  failed  to  do  my  best,  he 
wrould  make  ample  amends,  covering  the  whole  ground, 
exhausting  the  subject,  leaving  nothing  essential  unsaid. 
And  if  I  did  better  than  ever,  Mr.  Burleigh  would  come 
after  me,  and  fill  twelve  baskets  full  of  precious  fragments. 
He  is  a  single-minded,  pure-hearted,  conscientious,  self- 
sacrificing  man.  He  is  not  blessed  with  a  fine  voice  nor 
a  graceful  manner.  And  the  peculiar  dress  of  his  hair 
and  beard  has  given  offence  to  many,  and  may  have 
lessened  his  usefulness.  But  he  has  a  great  command 
of  language.  He  has  a  singularly  acute  and  logical 
intellect.  His  reasoning,  argumentative  powers  are 
remarkable.  And  he  often  has  delighted  and  astonished 
his  hearers  by  the  brilliancy  of  his  rhetoric,  and  the 
surpassing  beauty  of  his  imagery,  ajid  aptness  of  his 
illustrations.  The  millions  of  the  emancipated  in  our 
country  are  indebted  to  the  labors  of  few  more  than  to 
those  of  Charles  C.  Burleigh.  But  to  return. 


MISS   CBANDALL'S   TRIAL. 

On  the  23d  of  August,  1833,  the  first  trial  of  Pru 
dence  Crandall  for  the  crime  of  keeping  a  boarding- 
school  for  colored  girls  in  the  State  of  Connecticut, 
and  endeavoring  to  give  them  a  good  education,  —  the 


MISS  PRUDENCE   GRAND  ALL.  67 

first  trial  for  this  crime,  —  was  had  in  Brooklyn,  the  seat 
of  the  county  of  Windham,  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the 
house  where  lived  and  died  General  Israel  Putnam,  who, 
with  his  compatriots  of  1776,  perilled  his  life  in  defence 
of  the  self-evident  truth  that  "all  men  were  created 
equal,  and  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  the  inalienable 
right  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  It  was 
had  at  the  County  Court,  Hon.  Joseph  Eaton  presiding. 

The  prosecution  was  conducted  by  Hon.  A.  T.  Judson, 
Jonathan  A.  Welch,  Esq.,  and  I.  Bulkley,  Esq.  Miss 
Crandall's  counsel  were  Hon.  Calvin  Goddard,  Hon.  W. 
"VV.  Ellsworth,  and  Henry  Strong,  Esq. 

The  indictment  of  MissCrandall  consisted  of  two  counts, 
which  amounted  to  the  same  thing.  The  first  set  forth, 
in  the  technical  terms  of  the  law,  that  "  with  force  and 
arms  "  she  had  received  into  her  school ;  and  the  second, 
that,  "  with  force  and  arms,"  she  had  instructed  certain 
colored  girls,  who  were  not  inhabitants  of  the  State, 
without  having  first  obtained,  in  writing,  permission  to 
do  so  from  the  majority  of  the  civil  authority  and  se 
lectmen  of  the  town  of  Canterbury,  as  required  by  the 
law  under  which  she  was  prosecuted. 

Mr.  Judson  opened  the  case.  He,  of  course,  endeav 
ored  to  keep  out  of  sight  the  most  odious  features  of 
the  law  which  had  been  disobeyed  by  Miss  Crandall. 
He  insisted  that  it  was  only  a  wise  precaution  to  keep 
out  of  the  State  an  injurious  kind  of  population.  He 
urged  that  the  public  provisions  for  the  education  of  all 
the  children  of  the  inhabitants  of  Connecticut  were  am 
ple,  generous,  and  that  colored  children  belonging  to 
the  State,  not  less  than  others,  might  enjoy  the  advan 
tages  of  the  common  schools,  which  were  under  the  su 
pervision  and  control  of  proper  officials  in  every  town. 
He  argued  that  it  was  not  fair  nor  safe  to  allow  any  per 
son,  without  the  permission  of  such  officials,  to  come 


68  KISE  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

into  the  State  and  open  a  school  for  any  class  of  pupils 
she  might  please  to  invite  from  other  States.  He  alleged 
that  other  States  of  the  Union,  Northern  as  well  as 
Southern,  regarded  colored  persons  as  a  kind  of  popula 
tion  respecting  which  there  should  be  some  special  leg 
islation.  If  it  were  not  for  such  protection  as"  the  law 
in  question  had  provided,  the  Southerners  might  free  all 
their  slaves,  and  send  them  to  Connecticut  instead  of  Li 
beria,  which  would  be  overwhelming.  Mr.  Judson  denied 
that  colored  persons  were  citizens  in  those  States,  where 
they  were  not  enfranchised.  He  claimed  that  the  priv 
ilege  of  being  a  freeman  was  higher  than  the  right 
of  being  educated,  and  asked  this  remarkable  question  : 
"  Why  should  a  man  be  educated  who  could  not  be  a 
freeman  ? "  He  denied,  however,  that  he  was  opposed 
to  the  improvement  of  any  class  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  land,  if  their  improvement  could  be  effected  with 
out  violating  any  of  the  provisions  of  our  Constitution, 
or  endangering  the  union  of  the  States.  His  associates 
labored  to  maintain  the  same  positions. 

These  positions  were  vigorously  assailed  by  Mr.  Ells 
worth  and  Mr.  Strong,  and  shown  to  be  untenable  by  a 
great  array  of  facts  adduced  from  the  history  of  our 
own  country,  of  the  opinions  of  some  of  the  most  illus 
trious  lawyers  and  civilians  of  England  and  America, 
and  of  arguments,  the  force  of  which  was  palpable. 

Nevertheless,  the  Judge  saw  fit,  though  somewhat 
timidly,  in  his  charge  to  the  Jury,  to  give  it  as  his  opin 
ion  that  "  the  law  was  constitutional  and  obligatory  on 
the  people  of  the  State." 

The  Jury,  after  an  absence  of  several  hours,  returned 
into  court,  not  having  agreed  upon  a  verdict.  They 
were  instructed  on  some  points,  and  sent  out  a  second, 
and  again  a  third  time,  but  with  no  better  success. 
They  stated  to  the  Court  that  there  was  no  probability 


MISS  PRUDENCE   GRAND  ALL.  69 

they  should  ever  agree.  Seven  of  them  were  for  convic 
tion,  and  five  for  acquittal.  So  they  were  discharged. 

Supposing  that  this  result  operated  as  a  continuance 
of  the  case  to  the  next  term  of  the  County  Court,  to  be 
held  the  following  December,  a  few  days  after  the  trial 
I  went  with  my  family  to  spend  several  weeks  with  my 
friends  in  Boston  and  the  neighborhood.  But  much  to 
my  surprise  and  discomfort,  the  last  week  in  September, 
just  as  I  was  starting  off  to  deliver  an  ant isla very  lec 
ture,  at  a  distance  from  Boston,  I  received  the  informa 
tion  that  the  persecutors  of  Miss  Crandall,  too  impa 
tient  to  wait  until  December  for  the  regular  course  of 
law,  had  got  up  a  new  prosecution  of  her,  to  be 
tried  on  the  3d  of  October,  before  Judge  Daggett  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  who  was  known  to  be  hostile  to  the 
colored  people,  and  a  strenuous  advocate  of  the  Black 
Law.  It  was  impossible  for  me  so  to  dispose  of  my  en 
gagements  that  I  could  get  back  to  Brooklyn  in  time  to 
attend  the  trial.  I  could  only  write  and  instruct  the 
counsel  of  Miss  Crandall,  in  case  a  verdict  should  be 
obtained  against  her,  to  carry  the  cause  up  to  the  Court 
of  Errors. 

The  second  trial  was  had  on  the  3d  of  October ;  the 
same  defence  as  before  was  set  up,  and  ably  main 
tained.  But  Chief  Justice  Daggett's  influence  with  the 
Jury  was  overpowering.  He  delivered  an  elaborate  and 
able  charge,  insisting  upon  the  constitutionality  of  the 
law ;  and,  without  much  hesitation,  the  verdict  was 
given  against  Miss  Crandall.  Her  counsel  at  once  filed 
a  bill  of  exceptions,  and  an  appeal  to  the  Court  of 
Errors,  which  was  granted.  Before  that  —  the  highest 
legal  tribunal  in  the  State  —  the  cause  was  argued  on 
the  22d  of  July,  1834.  The  Hon.  W.  W.  Ellsworth  and 
the  Hon.  Calvin  Goddard  argued  against  the  constitu 
tionality  of  the  Black  Law,  with  very  great  ability  and 


70  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

eloquence.     The  Hon.  A.  T.  Judson  and  the  Hon.  C.  F. 

Cleaveland  said  all  that  perhaps  could  be  said  to  prove 
such  a  law  to  be  consistent  with  the  Magna  Charta  of 
our  Republic.  All  who  attended  the  trial  seemed  to  be 
deeply  interested,  and  were  made  to  acknowledge  the 
vital  importance  of  the  question  at  issue.  Most  per 
sons,  I  believe,  were  persuaded  that  the  Court  ought  to 
and  would  decide  against  the  law.  But  they  reserved 
the  decision  until  some  future  time.  And  that  decision, 
I  am  sorry  to  say,  was  never  given.  The  Court  evaded 
it  the  next  week  by  finding  that  the  defects  in  the  in 
formation  prepared  by  the  State's  Attorney  were  such 
that  it  ought  to  be  quashed ;  thus  rendering  it  "  unneces 
sary  for  the  Court  to  come  to  any  decision  upon  the 
question  as  to  the  constitutionality  of  the  law." 

Whether  her  persecutors  were  or  were  not  in  despair 
of  breaking  down  Miss  Crandall's  school  by  legal  pro 
cess,  I  am  unable  to  say,  but  they  soon  resorted  to  other 
means,  which  were  effectual. 

HOUSE   SET  ON  FIKE. 

Soon  after  their  failure  to  get  a  decision  from  the 
Court  of  Errors,  an  attempt  was  made  to  set  her  house 
on  fire.  Fortunately  the  match  was  applied  to  combus 
tibles  tucked  under  a  corner  where  the  sills  were  some 
what  decayed.  They  burnt  like  a  slow  match.  Some 
time  before  daylight  the  inmates  perceived  the  smell  of 
fire,  but  not  until  nearly  nine  o'clock  did  any  blaze  ap 
pear.  It  was  quickly  quenched ;  and  I  was  sent  for  to 
advise  whether,  if  her  enemies  were  so  malignant  as 
this  attempt  showed  them  to  be,  it  was  safe  and  right 
for  her  to  expose  her  pupils'  and  her  own  life  any  longer 
to  their  wicked  devices.  It  was  concluded  that  she 
should  hold  on  and  bear  yet  a  little  longer.  Perhaps 
the  atrocity  of  this  attempt  to  fire  her  house,  and  at  the 


MISS  PRUDENCE  CRANDALL.         71 

same  time  endanger  the  dwellings  of  her  neighbors 
would  frighten  the  leaders  and  instigators  of  the  perse 
cution  to  put  more  restraint  upon  "  the  baser  sort."  But 
a  few  nights  afterwards  it  was  made  only  too  plain  that 
the  enemies  of  the  school  wore  bent  upon  its  destruction. 
About  twelve  o'clock,  on  the  night  of  the  9th  of  Septem 
ber,  Miss  CrandalPs  house  was  assaulted  by  a  number 
of  persons  with  heavy  clubs  and  iron  bars ;  five  window- 
sashes  were  demolished  and  ninety  panes  of  glass  dashed 
to  pieces. 

I  was  summoned  next  morning  to  the  scene  of  de 
struction  and  the  terror-stricken  family.  Never  before 
had  Miss  Crandall  seemed  to  quail,  and  her  pupils  had  be 
come  afraid  to  remain  another  night  under  her  roof.  The 
front  rooms  of  the  house  were  hardly  tenantable  ;  and  it 
seemed  foolish  to  repair  them  only  to  be  destroyed  again. 
After  due  consideration,  therefore,  it  was  determined 
that  the  school  should  be  abandoned.  The  pupils  were 
called  together,  and  I  was  requested  to  announce  to  them 
our  decision.  Never  before  had  I  felt  so  deeply  sensible 
of  the  cruelty  of  the  persecution  which  had  been  carried 
on  for  eighteen  months,  in  that  New  England  village 
against  a  family  of  defenceless  females.  Twenty  harmless, 
well-behaved  girls,  whose  only  offence  against  the  peace  of 
the  community  was  that  they  had  come  together  there  to 
obtain  useful  knowledge  and  moral  culture,  were  to  be  told 
that  they  had  better  go  away,  because,  forsooth,  the  house 
in  which  they  dwelt  would  not  be  protected  by  the  guar 
dians  of  the  town,  the  conservators  of  the  peace,  the  offi 
cers  of  justice,  the  men  of  influence  in  the  village  where  it 
was  situated.  The  words  almost  blistered  my  lips.  My 
bosom  glowed  with  indignation.  I  felt  ashamed  of  Can 
terbury,  ashamed  of  Connecticut,  ashamed  of  my  coun 
try,  ashamed  of  my  color.  Thus  ended  the  generous, 
disinterested,  philanthropic,  Christian  enterprise  of  Pru 
dence  Crandall. 


72  RISE  OF   ABOLITIONISM. 

This  was  the  second  attempt  made  in  Connecticut 
to  establish  a  school  for  the  education  of  colored  youth. 
The  other  was  in  New  Haven,  two  years  before.  So 
prevalent  and  malignant  was  our  national  prejudice 
against  the  most  injured  of  our  fellow-men ! 


MR,    GARRISON'S    MISSION    TO    ENGLAND.  —  NEW 
YORK    MOBS. 

The  subject  of  this  article  is  very  opportune  at  the 
present  time.*  While  the  roar  of  the  cannon,  fired  in 
honor  of  Mr.  Garrison  at  the  moment  of  his  late  depar 
ture  from  England,  is  still  reverberating  through  the 
land,  it  will  be  interesting  and  instructive  to  recall  the 
purpose  of  his  mission  to  that  country  just  thirty-four 
years  ago ;  and  how  he  was  vilified  when  he  went,  and 
denounced,  hunted,  mobbed,  on  his  return.  He  went 
there  to  undeceive  the  philanthropists  of  Great  Britain 
as  to  a  gigantic  fraud  which  had  been  practised  upon  them, 
as  well  as  the  antislavery  people  of  the  United  States. 
He  has  gone  now  to  the  World's  Antislavery  Conven 
tion  as  a  delegate  from  our  National  Association  for  the 
education,  and  individual,  domestic,  and  civil  elevation 
of  our  colored  population,  whose  condition  thirty  years 
ago,  and  until  a  much  more  recent  period,  it  was  confi 
dently  maintained,  and  pretty  generally  conceded,  could 
not  be  essentially  improved  within  the  borders  of  our 
Republic,  if,  indeed,  on  the  same  continent  with  our 
superior  Anglo-Saxon  race. 

The  conscience  of  our  country  was  never  at  peace 
concerning  the  enslavement  of  the  colored  people.  It 
was  denounced  by  Jefferson  in  his  original  draft  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  and  afterwards  in  his 
"  Notes  on  Virginia."  An  effort  to  abolish  slavery  was 

*  This  chapter  was  written  in  June,  1867,  and  I  give  it  here  as  it 
first  came  from  my  pen. 


MR.   GARRISON'S   MISSION  TO  ENGLAND.  73 

made  in  the  Convention  that  framed  our  Constitution ; 
and  strenuous  opposition  to  that  Magna  Charta  was  made 
in  several  of  the  State  Conventions  called  to  ratify  it, 
because  the  abominable  wrong  was  indirectly  and  cov 
ertly  sanctioned  therein.  Soon  after  we  became  a  nation 
plans  were  proposed  and  associations  formed  for  the  im 
provement  of  the  condition  of  the  colored  population ;  and 
the  General  Government  was  earnestly  entreated,  in  a  peti 
tion  headed  by  Dr.  Franklin,  "  to  go  to  the  utmost  lim 
its  of  its  power  "  to  eradicate  the  great  evil  from  the  land. 
But  the  doctrine  was  industriously  taught  by  our  states 
men  that  the  status  of  that  class  of  the  people  was  left, 
in  the  Constitution  of  the  Union,  to  be  determined  by 
the  government  of  each  of  the  States  in  which  they 
may  be  found.  And  still  greater  pains  were  taken,  by 
those  who  were  bent  on  the  perpetuation  of  slavery,  to 
make  it  generally  believed  throughout  the  country  that 
negroes  were  naturally  a  very  inferior  race  of  men  ;  utter 
ly  incapable  of  much  mental  or  moral  culture,  and  better 
off  in  domestic  servitude  on  our  continent  than  in  their 
native  state  in  Africa.  Notwithstanding  this  disparage 
ment  of  them,  and  the  other  inducements  pressed  upon 
the  white  people  everywhere  to  acquiesce  in  their  en 
slavement,  many  colored  persons  emancipated  them 
selves,  especially  in  Maryland,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and 
Louisiana ;  and  many  more  were  set  free  by  the  work 
ings  of  the  consciences  of  their  owners,  or  in  gratitude 
for  their  services  to  individuals  or  the  public.  Thus, 
considerable  bodies  of  freedmen  were  found  almost  every 
where  in  the  midst  of  the  slaves.  Not  without  reason, 
these  persons  became  objects  of  distrust  to  slaveholders. 
Devices  were  therefore  sought  to  get  rid  of  their  dis 
turbing  influence,  and  to  prevent  the  increase  of  the 
number  of  such  persons. 

In  1816  the  grand  scheme  was  proposed,  and  readily 


74  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

adopted  in  most  of  the  slaveholding  States,  for  coloniz 
ing  on  the  coast  of  Africa  the  free  colored  people  of  the 
United  States,  and  prohibiting  the  emancipation  of  any 
more  of  the  enslaved,  excepting  upon  the  condition  of 
their  removal  to  Liberia. 

To  carry  this  great  undertaking  into  complete  effect 
it  was  necessary  to  secure  the  patronage  of  the  Federal 
Government.  This  obviously  could  not  be  done,  with 
out  first  conciliating  to  the  project  the  approval  and  co 
operation  of  the  people  of  the  non-slaveholding  States. 
Accordingly,  agents,  eloquent  and  cunning,  were  sent 
north,  east,  and  west,  to  summon  the  benevolent  and 
patriotic  everywhere  to  aid  in  an  enterprise  which,  it 
was  claimed,  would  result  in  the  safe  but  entire  abolition 
of  American  slavery. 

The  dreadful  wrongs  and  cruelties  inflicted  upon  our 
bondmen  were  not  kept  out  of  sight  by  these  agents, 
but  sometimes  glowingly  depicted.  The  participation  of 
the  Northern  States  in  the  original  sin  of  the  enslave 
ment  of  Africans  was  pertinently  urged.  The  utter  im 
practicability  and  danger  of  setting  free  such  hordes  of 
ignorant,  degraded  people  were  insisted  on  with  particu 
lar  emphasis.  The  immense  good  that  would  be  done  to 
benighted  Africa  was  eloquently  portrayed,  —  how  the 
slave-trade  might  be  stopped,  and  the  knowledge  of  the 
arts  of  civilized  America,  and  the  blessings  of  our  Chris 
tian  religion,  might  be  spread  throughout  that  dark 
region  of  the  earth,  from  the  basis  of  colonies  planted  at 
Liberia  and  elsewhere  along  those  coasts,  hitherto  visited 
only  by  mercenary  and  cruel  white  men.  All  these  con 
siderations  were  so  pressed  upon  the  churches  and  min 
isters  and  kind-hearted  people  of  the  Northern  States, 
that  erelong  an  enthusiasm  was  awakened  everywhere 
in  favor  of  colonizing  the  colored  people  of  our  country 
"  in  their  native  land,"  and  thus,  at  the  same  time,  evan- 


MR.   GARRISON'S  MISSION   TO  ENGLAND.  75 

gelizing  Africa  and  wiping  out  the  shame  of  the  Ameri 
can  Republic.  Without  stopping  to  consider  the  glaring 
inconsistencies  of  the  scheme,  it  was  taken  for  granted 
to  be  the  only  feasible  way  of  doing  what  we  all  longed 
to  have  done,  —  abolishing  slavery.  So  the  colonization 
of  our  colored  population  became  the  favorite  enterprise 
at  the  North,  even  more  than  at  the  South.  Thousands 
who  were  so  prejudiced  against  them  that  they  would 
never  consent  to  admit  them  to  the  enjoyment  of  the 
rights,  and  the  exercise  of  the  prerogatives,  of  men  in 
our  country  were  ready  to  give  liberally  to  have  them 
transported  across  the  Atlantic,  and  were  deluded  into 
the  belief  that  it  was  a  benevolent,  yes,  a  Christian  en 
terprise.  The  very  elect  were  deceived.  The  men  who 
have  since  been  most  distinguished  among  the  Aboli 
tionists  —  Mr.  Garrison,  Arthur  Tappan,  Gerrit  Smith, 
James  G.  Birney,  and  hundreds  more  —  were  for  a  while 
zealous  Colonizationists. 

Not  until  Mr.  Garrison  had  been  some  time  resident 
in  Baltimore  as  co-editor,  with  Benjamin  Lundy,  of  the 
Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation,  were  the  true  purpose 
and  spirit  of  Colonization  discovered.  He  there  found 
out,  as  he  afterwards  made  it  plainly  appear,  that  the 
intention  of  the  originators,  and  of  the  Southern  promot 
ers  of  the  scheme,  really  was,  "  to  rivet  still  closer  the 
fetters  of  the  slaves,  and  to  deepen  the  prejudice  against 
the  free  people  of  color." 

So  different  had  been  the  representations  of  its  pur 
pose  by  the  agents  of  the  Colonization  Society  who  had 
labored  in  its  behalf  throughout  the  free  States,  and  so 
utterly  unconscious  were  most  of  the  Colonizationists  on 
this  side  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  of  harboring  any 
such  designs,  that  Mr.  Garrison's  accusations  fired  them 
with  indignation  and  wrath.  They  would  not  give  heed 
to  his  incontrovertible  evidence.  Though  his  witnesses 


76  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

were  numerous  and  could  not  be  impeached,  yet  were 
they  spurned  by  most  of  the  persons  in  the  free  States 
who  had  espoused  the  cause.  It  was  enough  that  Mr. 
Garrison  had  come  out  in  opposition  to  the  plan  of  Colo 
nization.  He  was  denounced  as  an  infidel,  set  upon  as 
an  enemy  of  his  country.  The  churches  were  all  closed 
against  him.  Few  ministers  ventured  to  give  him  any 
countenance,  and  the  politicians  heaped  upon  him  un 
measured  abuse.  All  this  made  the  more  plain  to  the 
young  Reformer  and  his  co-laborers  how  thoroughly  the 
virus  of  slavery  had  poisoned  the  American  body  eccle 
siastic,  as  well  as  the  body  politic.  It  was  seen  that  the 
church  was  becoming  the  bulwark  of  slaveholders.  Mr. 
Garrison  felt  that  the  first  thing  to  be  done,  therefore, 
was  to  batter  down  the  confidence  of  the  humane  in  the 
Colonization  plan.  Against  this  he  drove  his  sharpest 
points,  at  this  he  aimed  his  heaviest  artillery.  So  when 
it  became  known  to  us  that  the  agents  of  that  plan  had 
labored,  with  sad  effect,  in  Great  Britain ;  that  they  had 
suborned  to  their  purpose  the  aid  of  the  English  philan 
thropists,  we  all  felt,  with  Mr.  Garrison,  that  those 
friends  of  the  oppressed  must  be  undeceived  without 
delay.  No  one  was  competent  to  do  this  work  so 
thoroughly  as  Mr.  Garrison  himself.  Accordingly,  it  was 
determined,  in  the  spring  of  1833,  that  he  must  see  per 
sonally  the  prominent  Abolitionists  of  Great  Britain. 

In  pursuance  of  this  object  he  sailed  from  New  York 
on  the  first  day  of  this  month,  thirty-four  years  ago.  He 
went  with  the  execrations  of  the  leading  Colonizationists, 
and  all  the  proslavery  partisans  of  our  country  upon  his 
head.  He  was  received  in  England  with  the  utmost 
cordiality  and  respectful  confidence  by  all  the  friends  of 
liberty ;  for  although,  as  he  found,  many  of  them  had 
been  persuaded  by  the  agents  of  the  Colonization  Society 
to  give  their  approval  and  aid  to  that  scheme,  they  had 


done  so  because  they  had  been  made  to  believe  that  it 
was  intended  and  adapted  to  effect  the  entire  abolition 
of  slavery  in  the  United  States. 

Nothing  could  have  been  more  opportune  than  was 
his  arrival  in  London.  He  found  there  most  of  the  lead 
ing  Abolitionists  of  the  United  Kingdom  watching  and 
aiding  the  measures  in  Parliament  about  to  issue  in  the 
emancipation  of  the  enslaved  in  the  British  West  India 
Islands.  He  was  invited  to  their  councils,  and  inter 
changed  opinions  freely  and  fully  with  them  on  the  great 
questions,  which  were  essentially  the  same  in  that  coun 
try  and  our  own.  It  was  especially  his  privilege  to  be 
come  acquainted  with  William  Wilberforce  and  Thomas 
Clarkson  and  Fowell  Buxton  and  George  Thompson,  to 
name  no  more  of  the  noble  host  that  had  fought  the 
battles  and  won  the  victory  of  freedom  for  eight  hundred 
thousand  slaves.  He  was  there  when  William  Wilber 
force  was  summoned  to  lay  aside  his  earthly  life,  with 
his  antislavery  armor,  and  ascend,  we  trust,  to  the  right 
hand  of  God.  How  appropriate  that  the  young  leader 
of  the  Abolitionists  of  America,  whose  work  had  just 
begun,  should  be  present,  as  he  was,  at  the  obsequies  of 
the  veteran  leader  of  the  British  Abolitionists  just  as 
their  work  was  done  ! 

Mr.  Garrison  remained  in  England  three  or  four 
months,  long  enough  to  accomplish  fully  the  object  of 
his  mission.  He  reached  New  York  on  the  30th  of  the 
following  September,  bringing  with  him  this  emphatic 
protest,  signed  by  the  most  distinguished  philanthropists, 
and  several  of  the  most  distinguished  statesmen  of  Great 
Britain  :  — 

"  We,  the  undersigned,  having  observed  with  regret  that 
the  American  Colonization  Society  appears  to  be  gaining 
some  adherents  in  this  country,  are  desirous  to  express  our 
opinions  respecting  it.  Our  motive  and  excuse  for  thus  com- 


78  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

ing  forward  are  the  claims  which  that  Society  has  put  forth 
to  Antislavery  support.  These  claims  are,  in  our  opinion, 
wholly  groundless ;  and  we  feel  bound  to  affirm  that  our 
deliberate  judgment  and  conviction  are  that  the  professions 
made  by  the  Colonization  Society  of  promoting  the  abolition 
of  slavery  are  delusive 

"  While  we  believe  its  precepts  to  be  delusive  we  are  con 
vinced  that  its  real  effects  are  of  the  most  dangerous  nature. 
It  takes  its  root  from  a  cruel  prejudice  and  alienation  in 
the  whites  of  America  against  the  colored  people,  slave  or 
free.  This  being  its  source,  its  effects  are  what  might  be  ex 
pected 

"  On  these  grounds,  therefore,  and  while  we  acknowledge 
the  colony  of  Liberia,  or  any  other  colony  on  the  coast  of 
Africa,  to  be  in  itself  a  good  thing,  we  must  be  understood 
utterly  to  repudiate  the  principles  of  the  American  Coloniza 
tion  Society.  That  Society  is,  in  our  estimation,  not  deserv 
ing  of  the  countenance  of  the  British  public. 
(Signed) 

"  WM.    WlLBERFORCE,  S.  LuSHINGTON,  M.  P., 

ZACHARY  MACAULAY,  T.  FOWELL  BUXTON,  M.  P., 

WILLIAM  EVANS,  M.  P.,  JAMES  CROPPER, 

SAMUEL  GURNET,  DANIEL  O'CONNELL,  M.  P.," 

and  others. 

Nothing  could  have  maddened  the  slaveholders  and 
their  Northern  abettors  more  than  Mr.  Garrison's  success 
in  England,  and  their  malignant,  ferocious  hatred  of  him 
broke  out  on  his  return.  It  so  happened  that,  with 
out  any  expectation  of  his  arrival  at  the  time,  a  meeting 
of  those  desirous  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  was  called, 
on  the  evening  of  October  2,  in  Clinton  Hall,  to  organize  a 
city  society.  When  it  was  known  that  Mr.  Garrison 
would  be  present,  most  of  the  New  York  newspapers 
teemed  with  exciting  articles,  and  an  advertisement, 
signed  "  Many  Southerners,"  summoned  "  all  persons  in 
terested  in  the  subject "  to  be  present  at  the  same  time 
and  place.  The  Abolitionists,  aware  that  a  meeting  at 


MR.   GARRISON'S  MISSION   TO  ENGLAND.  79 

Clinton  Hall  would  be  broken  up,  quietly  withdrew  to 
Chatham  Street  Chapel,  and  had  nearly  completed  tho 
organization  of  the  "  New  York  City  Antislavery  Soci 
ety,"  when  the  mob  of  slaveholding  patriots,  disappointed 
of  their  prey  at  Clinton  Hall,  and  finding  out  the  retreat 
of  the  Abolitionists,  rushed  upon  and  dispersed  them 
from  Chatham  Street  Chapel,  with  horrid  cries  of  detes 
tation  and  threats  of  utmost  violence,  especially  aimed 
at  Mr.  Garrison,  of  whom  they  went  in  search  from  place 
to  place,  declaring  their  determination  to  wreak  upon 
him  their  utmost  vengeance.  Mr.  Garrison,  secure  in 
their  ignorance  of  his  person,  and  curious  to  learn  all  he 
might  of  the  mistaken  notions  and  corrupt  principles 
by  which  they  were  misled  and  driven  to  such  excesses, 
went  around  with  them  in  their  bootless  pursuit  until  he 
was  tired,  and  the  fire  of  their  fury  had  cooled. 

The  New  York  newspapers,  especially  the  Courier  and 
Inquirer,  the  Gazette,  Evening  Post,  and  Commercial  Ad 
vertiser,  by  their  half-way  condemnation  of  this  outrage, 
and  their  gro«s  misrepresentations  of  the  sentiments  and 
purposes  of  Mr.  Garrison  and  his  fellow-laborers,  vir 
tually  justified  that  fearful  assault  upon  "  the  liberty  of 
speech,"  and  inauguration  of  "  the  Reign  of  Terror,"  of 
which  I  shall  hereafter  give  my  readers  some  account. 

THE  CONVENTION  AT  PHILADELPHIA. 

The  publication  of  Mr.  Garrison's  "  Thoughts  on  Col 
onization  "  had  arrested  the  attention  of  philanthropists 
in  all  parts  of  our  country.  Everywhere,  public  as  well 
as  private  discussions  were  had  respecting  the  professed 
and  the  real  purpose  and  tendency  of  the  Colonization 
plan.  Converts  to  the  great  doctrine  of  the  young  Re 
former —  "  Immediate  emancipation  without  expatriation 
the  right  of  the  slave  and  the  duty  of  the  master "  — 


80  EISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

were  added  daily.  Tidings  came  to  us  that  many  town 
and  several  county  antislavery  societies  had  been  formed 
in  several  States  of  the  Union,  and  the  circulation  of 
the  Liberator  had  greatly  increased.  There  was  a  grow 
ing  feeling  that  Abolitionists  of  the  whole  country  ought 
to  know  each  other,  devise  some  plan  of  co-operation, 
and  make  their  influence  more  manifest.  Repeatedly 
during  the  spring  of  1833  Mr.  Garrison  expressed  his 
opinion  that  the  time  had  come  for  the  formation  of  a 
National  Antislavery  Society. 

After  his  departure  on  his  mission  to  England  the 
need  of  such  an  organization  became  more  and  more 
apparent,  and  before  Mr.  Garrison's  return,  on  the  30th 
of  September,  the  call  was  issued  for  the  Convention  to 
be  held  in  Philadelphia  on  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth 
days  of  the  ensuing  December.  Had  we  foreseen  the 
peculiarly  excited  state  of  the  public  mind  at  that  time, 
the  important  meeting  might  have  been  deferred.  The 
success  of  Mr.  Garrison's  labors  in  England,  in  opening 
the  eyes  of  the  British  philanthropists  to  the  egregious 
imposition  which  had  been  put  upon  them  by  the  Col 
onization  Society,  the  protest  of  the  sainted  Wilberforce 
and  his  most  illustrious  fellow-laborers,  the  stinging 
sarcasms  of  O'Connell,  the  champion  of  Ireland  and  of 
universal  freedom,  were  working  like  moral  blisters. 
More  than  all,  the  report  of  the  great  Exeter  Hall  meet 
ing  in  London,  by  which  colonization  was  denounced, 
and  the  doctrine  of  ''immediate  emancipation"  fully 
indorsed,  had  lashed  into  fury  all  the  proslavery-colo- 
nization-pseudo  patriotism  throughout  the  land.  The 
storm  had  burst  upon  us  in  the  mobs  at  New  York ;  and 
whether  it  would  ever  subside  until  it  had  overwhelmed 
us,  was  a  question  which  many  answered  in  tones  of 
fearful  foreboding  to  our  little  band.  But  the  Conven 
tion  had  been  called  before  the  outbreak,  and  we  were 


MR.   GARRISON'S  MISSION   TO  ENGLAND.  81 

not  "  wise  and  prudent "  enough  to  relinquish  our  pur 
pose  of  holding  it. 

On  my  way  to  the  "  City  of  Brotherly  Love  "  I  joined, 
at  New  York,  a  number  of  the  brethren  going  thither, 
whom  I  had  never  seen  before.  I  studied  anxiously  their 
countenances  and  bearing,  and  caught  most  thirstily 
every  word  that  dropped  from  their  lips,  until  I  was  sat 
isfied  that  most  of  them  were  men  ready  to  die,  if  need 
be,  in  the  pass  of  Thermopylae. 

There  was  a  large  company  on  the  steamer  that  took 
us  from  New  York  to  Elizabethtown,  and  again  from 
Bordentown  to  Philadelphia.  There  was  much  earnest 
talking  by  other  parties  beside  our  own.  Presently  a 
gentleman  turned  from  one  of  them  to  me  and  said, 
"  What,  sir,  are  the  Abolitionists  going  to  do  in  Philadel 
phia1?"  I  informed  him  that  we  intended  to  form  a 
National  Antislavery  Society.  This  brought  from  him 
an  outpouring  of  the  commonplace  objections  to  our  en 
terprise,  which  I  replied  to  as  well  as  I  was  able.  Mr. 
Garrison  drew  near,  and  I  soon  shifted  my  part  of  the 
discussion  into  his  hands,  and  listened  with  delight  to 
the  admirable  manner  in  which  he  expounded  and  main 
tained  the  doctrines  and  purposes  of  those  who  believed 
with  him  that  the  slaves  —  the  blackest  of  them  — 
were  men,  entitled  as  much  as  the  whitest  and  most 
exalted  men  in  the  land  to  their  liberty,  to  a  residence 
here,  if  they  choose,  and  to  acquire  as  much  wisdom,  as 
much  property,  and  as  high  a  position  as  they  may. 

After  a  long  conversation,  which  attracted  as  many  as 
could  get  within  hearing,  the  gentleman  said,  courteously : 
"  I  have  been  much  interested,  sir,  in  what  you  have 
said,  and  in  the  exceedingly  frank  and  temperate  manner 
in  which  you  have  treated  the  subject.  If  all  Abolition 
ists  were  like  you,  there  would  be  much  less  opposition 
to  your  enterprise.  But,  sir,  depend  upon  it,  that  hair- 
4*  F 


82  EISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

brained,  reckless,  violent  fanatic,  Garrison  will  damage, 
if  he  does  not  shipwreck,  any  cause."  Stepping  forward, 
I  replied,  "  Allow  me,  sir,  to  introduce  you  to  Mr.  Gar 
rison,  of  whom  you  entertain  so  bad  an  opinion.  The 
gentleman  you  have  been  talking  with  is  he."  I  need 
not  describe,  you  can  easily  imagine,  the  incredulous  sur 
prise  with  which  this  announcement  was  received.  And 
so  it  has  been  from  the  beginning  until  now.  Those 
who  have  only  heard  of  Mr.  Garrison,  and  have  believed 
the  misrepresentations  of  his  enemies,  have  supposed 
him  to  be  "  a  roaring  lion,  seeking  whom  he  may  de 
vour."  But  those  who  have  become  most  intimately 
acquainted  with  him  have  found  him  to  be  "  as  harmless 
as  a  dove,"  though  indeed  "  as  wise  as  a  serpent." 

When  we  arrived  in  Philadelphia  on  the  afternoon  of 
the  3d  of  December,  1833,  we  learnt  that  a  goodly  num 
ber  were  already  there  ;  and  the  newspapers  of  the  day 
were  seeking  to  make  our  coming  a  formidable  affair, 
worthy  the  especial  attention  of  those  patriotic  conser 
vators  of  the  peace  who  dealt  in  brickbats,  rotten  eggs, 
and  tar  and  feathers.  The  Police  of  the  city  had  given 
notice  to  our  Philadelphia  associates  that  they  could  not 
protect  us  in  the  evening,  and  therefore  our  meetings 
must  be  held  by  daylight. 

A  previous  gathering  was  had  that  evening  at  the 
house  of  Evan  Lewis,  a  man  who  was  afraid  of  nothing 
but  doing  or  being  wrong.  Between  thirty  and  forty 
were  there,  and  we  made  such  arrangements  as  we  could 
for  the  ensuing  day.  One  thing  we  did,  which  we  were 
not  careful  to  report,  so  you  may  never  have  heard  of  it. 
It  was  a  weak,  a  servile  act.  We  were  ashamed  of  it 
ourselves,  and  you  shall  have  a  laugh  at  our  expense  if 
you  like. 

Some  one  suggested  that,  as  we  were  strangers  in  Phil 
adelphia,  our  characters  and  manner  of  life  not  known 


THE  PHILADELPHIA   CONVENTION.  83 

there,  the  populace  might  the  more  easily  be  made  to 
believe  that  we  had  come  for  an  incendiary  purpose, 
and  be  roused  to  prevent  the  accomplishment  of  it ;  that, 
in  order  to  avert  the  opposition  which  seemed  preparing 
to  thwart  us,  it  would  be  well  to  get  some  one  of  the 
distinguished  philanthropists  of  that  city  to  preside  over 
our  deliberations,  and  thus  be,  as  it  were,  a  voucher  to 
the  public  for  our  harmlessness.  There  was  no  one  pro 
posed  of  whom  we  could  hope  such  patronage,  save  only 
Robert  Vaux,  a  prominent  and  wealthy  Quaker.  To  him 
it  was  resolved  we  should  apply.  Five  or  seven  of  us 
were  delegated  to  wait  upon  the  great  man,  and  solicit 
his  acceptance  of  the  Presidency  of  the  Convention. 
Of  this  committee  I  had  the  honor  to  be  one.  Just  for 
this  once  I  wish  I  had  some  wit,  that  I  might  be  able  to 
do  justice  to  the  scene.  But  I  need  not  help  you  to  see 
it  in  all  its  ludicrousness.  There  were  at  least  six  of 
us — Beriah  Green,  Evan  Lewis,  Eppingham  L.  Capron, 
Lewis  Tappan,  John  G.  Whittier,  and  myself — sitting 
around  a  richly  furnished  parlor,  gravely  arguing,  by 
turns,  with  the  wealthy  occupant,  to  persuade  him  that 
it  was  his  duty  to  come  and  be  the  most  prominent  one 
in  a  meeting  of  men  already  denounced  as  "fanatics, 
amalgamationists,  disorganizes,  disturbers  of  the  peace, 
and  dangerous  enemies  of  the  country."  Of  course  our 
suit  was  unsuccessful.  We  came  away  mortified  much 
more  because  we  had  made  such  a  request,  than  because 
it  had  been  denied.  As  we  left  the  door  Beriah  Green 
said  in  his  most  sarcastic  tone,  "  If  there  is  not  timber 
amongst  ourselves  big  enough  to  make  a  president  of, 
let  us  get  along  without  one,  or  go  home  and  stay  there 
until  we  have  grown  up  to  be  men." 

The  next  morning  as  we  passed  along  the  streets 
leading  to  the  place  of  meeting,  the  Adelphi  Buildings, 
we  were  repeatedly  assailed  with  most  insulting  words. 


84  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

On  arriving  at  the  hall  we  found  the  entrance  guarded 
by  police  officers,  placed  there,  I  suppose,  at  the  sugges 
tion  of  some  friends  by  order  of  the  Mayor.  These  in 
cidents  helped  us  to  realize  how  we  and  the  cause  we 
had  espoused,  were  regarded  in  that  City  of  Brotherly 
Love  and  Quakers. 

At  the  hour  appointed,  on  the  morning  of  the  4th, 
nearly  all  the  members  were  in  their  seats,  —  fifty-six  in 
all,  representing  ten  different  States.  No  time  was  lost. 
A  fervent  prayer  was  offered  for  the  divine  guidance. 
If  there  was  ever  a  praying  assembly  I  believe  that 
was  one. 

Beriah  Green,  then  President  of  Oneida  Institute,  was 
chosen  President  of  our  Convention.  Lewis  Tappan, 
one  of  the  earliest  and  most  untiring  laborers  in  the 
cause  of  the  oppressed,  a  well-known  merchant  of  New 
York,  and  John  G.  Whittier,  one  of  Liberty's  choicest 
poets,  were  chosen  Secretaries. 

The  first  forenoon  was  spent  in  a  free  but  somewhat 
desultory  interchange  of  thought  upon  the  topics  of 
prominent  interest,  and  in  listening  to  a  number  of 
cheering  letters  from  individuals  in  different  parts 
of  the  United  States,  assuring  us  of  their  hearty  sym 
pathy  and  co-operation,  though  they  were  unable  to  be 
with  us  in  person. 

Discussion  and  argument  were  not  found  necessary  to 
bring  us  to  the  resolution  to  institute  an  American  Anti- 
slavery  Society,  for  that  was  the  especial  purpose  for 
which  we  had  come  together.  Committees  were  chosen 
to  draft  a  constitution  and  to  nominate  a  list  of  officers. 
When  the  dining  hour  arrived,  with  one  consent  it  was 
agreed  that  it  was  better  than  meat  to  remain  in  the 
hall,  and  commune  with  one  another  upon  the  interests 
of  the  cause  we  had  espoused.  And  there  and  thus  did 
we  spend  the  dinner-time  on  that  and  each  of  the  sue- 


THE  PHILADELPHIA   CONVENTION.  85 

cecding  days.  Baskets  of  crackers  and  pitchers  of  cold 
water  supplied  all  the  bodily  refreshment  that  we  needed. 

The  reports  of  the  committees  occupied  us  through  the 
afternoon.  We  then  came  unanimously  to  the  conclu 
sion  that  it  was  needful  to  give,  to  our  country  and  the 
world,  a  fuller  declaration  of  the  sentiments  and  pur 
poses  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society  than  could 
be  embodied  in  its  Constitution.  It  was  therefore  re 
solved  "that  Messrs.  Atlee,  Wright,  Garrison,  Joselyn, 
Thurston,  Sterling,  William  Green,  Jr.,  Whittier,  Good- 
ell,  and  May  be  a  committee  to  draft  a  Declaration  of 
the  Principles  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society  for 
publication,  to  which  the  signatures  of  the  members  of 
this  Convention  shall  be  affixed." 

In  my  next  article  I  will  give  my  readers  a  particular 
account  of  the  conception  and  production  of  our  Magna 
Charta. 

THE  PHILADELPHIA  CONVENTION. 

The  committee  of  ten,  appointed  at  the  close  of  the 
first  day  to  prepare  a  declaration  of  the  sentiments  and 
purposes  of  the  American.  Antislavery  Society,  felt  that 
the  work  assigned  them  ought  to  be  most  carefully  and 
thoroughly  done,  embodying,  as  far  as  possible,  the  best 
thoughts  of  the  whole  Convention.  Accordingly,  about 
half  of  the  members  were  invited  to  meet,  and  did  meet, 
the  committee  early  at  the  house  of  our  chairman,  Dr. 
Edwin  P.  Atlee. 

After  an  hour's  general  conversation  upon  the  impor 
tance  oil  the  document  to  be  prepared,  and  the  character 
it  ought  to  possess,  we  agreed  that  each  one  present 
should,  in  his  turn,  utter  the  sentiment  or  announce  the 
purpose  which  he  thought  ought  to  be  given  in  the  dec 
laration.  This  was  done,  and  revealed  great  unanimity, 


86  EISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

and  at  the  same  time  not  a  little  individuality  of  opin 
ion  among  the  members.  I  cannot  now  recall  many 
of  the  suggestions  thrown  out.  One,  however,  was  so 
pregnant  that  it  contained  the  text  and  the  substance 
of  several  of  my  lectures  afterwards.  "  I  wish,"  said 
Elizur  Wright,  "  that  the  difference  between  our  purpose 
and  that  of  the  Colonization  Society  should  be  explicitly 
stated.  We  mean  to  exterminate  slavery  from  our  coun 
try  with  its  accursed  influences.  The  Colonizationists 
aim  only  to  get  rid  of  the  slaves  so  soon  as  they  become 
free.  Their  plan  is  unrighteous,  cruel,  and  impracticable 
withal.  Our  plan  needs  but  a  good  will,  a  right  spirit 
amongst  the  white  people,  to  accomplish  it." 

After  a  session  of  more  than  two  hours  thus  spent  a 
sub-committee  of  three  was  appointed  to  prepare  a  draft 
of  the  proposed  declaration,  to  be  reported  next  morning 
at  nine  o'clock  to  the  whole  committee,  in  the  room  adjoin 
ing  the  hall  of  the  Convention.  William  L.  Garrison, 
John  G.  Whittier,  and  myself  composed  that  sub-com 
mittee.  We  immediately  repaired  to  the  house  of  Mr. 
James  McCrummel,  a  colored  gentleman,  with  whom 
Mr.  Garrison  was  at  home  ;  and  there,  after  a  half-hour's 
consultation,  it  was  of  course  determined  that  Mr.  Gar 
rison,  our  Coryphaeus,  should  write  the  document,  in 
which  were  to  be  set  before  our  country  and  the  world 
"the  sentiments  and  purposes  of  the  American  Anti- 
slavery  Society."  We  left  him  about  ten  o'clock,  agree 
ing  to  come  to  him  again  next  morning  at  eight. 

On  our  return  at  the  appointed  hour  we  found  him, 
with  shutters  closed  and  lamps  burning,  just  writing  the 
last  paragraph  of  his  admirable  draft.  We  read  it  over 
together  two  or  three  times  very  carefully,  agreed  to  a 
few  slight  alterations,  and  at  nine  went  to  lay  it  before  the 
whole  committee.  By  them  it  was  subjected  to  the 
severest  examination.  Nearly  three  hours  of  intense 


THE  PHILADELPHIA  CONVENTION.  87 

application  were  given  to  it,  notwithstanding  repeated 
and  urgent  calls  from  the  Convention  for  our  report. 
All  the  while  Mr.  Garrison  evinced  the  most  unruffled 
patience.  Very  few  alterations  were  proposed,  and  only 
once  did  he  offer  any  resistance.  He  had  introduced 
into  his  draft  more  than  a  page  in  condemnation  of  the 
Colonization  scheme.  It  was  the  concentrated  essence 
of  all  he  had  written  or  thought  upon  that  egregious 
imposition.  It  was  as  finished  and  powerful  in  expres 
sion  as  any  part  of  that  Magna  Charta.  We  commented 
upon  it  as  a  whole  and  in  all  its  parts.  We  writhed 
somewhat  under  its  severity,  but  were  obliged  to  ac 
knowledge  its  exact,  its  singular  justice,  and  were  about 
to  accept  it,  when  I  ventured  to  propose  that  all  of  it, 
excepting  only  the  first  comprehensive  paragraph,  be 
stricken  from  the  document,  giving  as  my  reason  for 
this  large  erasure,  that  the  Colonization  Society  could 
not  long  survive  the  deadly  blows  it  had  received  ;  and 
it  was  not  worth  while  for  us  to  perpetuate  the  memory 
of  it,  in  this  Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  Man,  which 
will  live  a  perpetual,  impressive  protest  against  every 
form  of  oppression,  until  it  shall  have  given  place  to 
that  brotherly  kindness,  which  all  the  children  of  the 
common  Father  owe  to  one  another.  At  first,  Mr.  Gar 
rison  rose  up  to  save  a  portion  of  his  work  that  had 
doubtless  cost  him  as  much  mental  effort  as  any  other 
part  of  it.  But  so  soon  as  he  found  that  a  large  major 
ity  of  the  committee  concurred  in  favor  of  the  erasure, 
he  submitted  very  graciously,  saying,  "  Brethren,  it  is 
your  report,  not  mine." 

With  this  exception,  the  alterations  and  amendments 
which  were  made,  after  all  our  criticisms,  were  surpris 
ingly  few  and  unessential ;  and  we  cordially  agreed  to 
report  it  to  the  Convention  very  much  as  it  came  from 
his  pen. 


88  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

Between  twelve  and  one  o'clock  we  repaired  with  it  to 
the  hall.  Edwin  P.  Atlee,  the  Chairman,  read  the  Decla 
ration  to  the  Convention.  Never  in  my  life  have  I  seen 
a  deeper  impression  made  by  words  than  was  made  by 
that  admirable  document  upon  all  who  were  there  pres 
ent.  After  the  voice  of  the  reader  had  ceased  there  was 
a  profound  silence  for  several  minutes.  Our  hearts  were 
in  perfect  unison.  There  was  but  one  thought  with  us 
all.  Either  of  the  members  could  have  told  what  the 
whole  Convention  felt.  We  felt  that  the  word  had  just 
been  uttered  which  would  be  mighty,  through  God,  to 
the  pulling  down  of  the  strongholds  of  slavery. 

The  solemn  silence  was  broken  by  a  Quaker  brother, 
Evan  Lewis,  or  Thomas  Shipley,  who  moved  that  we 
adopt  the  Declaration,  and  proceed  at  once  to  append  to 
it  our  signatures.  He  said,  "  We  have  already  given  it 
our  assent ;  every  heart  here  has  responded  to  it ;  and 
there  is  a  doctrine  of  the  *  Friends '  which  impelled  me 
to  make  the  motion  I  have  done  :  '  First  impressions  are 
from  heaven.1  I  fear,  if  we  go  about  criticising  and  amend 
ing  this  Declaration,  we  shall  qualify  its  truthfulness  and 
impair  its  strength." 

The  majority  of  the  Convention,  however,  thought  it 
best,  in  a  matter  so  momentous,  to  be  deliberate ;  to 
weigh  well  every  word  and  act  by  which  our  country 
men  and  the  world  would  be  called  to  justify  or  con 
demn  us  and  our  enterprise.  Accordingly,  we  adjusted 
ourselves  to  hear  the  Declaration  read  again,  paragraph 
by  paragraph,  sentence  by  sentence,  and  to  pass  judg 
ment  upon  it  in  every  particular.  The  whole  afternoon, 
from  one  o'clock  until  five,  was  assiduously  and  patiently 
devoted  to  this  review.  Discussion  arose  on  several  points; 
but  no  one  spoke  who  had  not  something  to  say.  Never 
had  I  heard  in  a  public  assembly  so  much  pertinent 
speech,  never  so  little  that  was  unimportant.  The  re- 


THE   PHILADELPHIA   CONVENTION.  89 

suit  of  the  afternoon's  deliberations  was  a  deeper  satis 
faction  with  the  Declaration.  Some  expressions  in  it 
were  called  in  question,  but  few  were  changed.  And 
just  as  the  darkness  of  night  had  shut  down  upon  us 
we  resolved  unanimously  to  adopt  it.  On  motion  of 
Lewis  Tappan  we  voted  that  Abraham  L.  Cox,  M.  D., 
whom  the  mover  knew  to  be  an  excellent  penman,  be 
requested  to  procure  a  suitable  sheet  of  parchment,  and 
engross  thereon  our  magna  charta  before  the  following 
morning,  that  it  might  then  receive  the  signatures  of 
each  one  of  the  members. 

At  the  opening  of  the  meeting  next  morning  the  Doc 
tor  was  there,  with  the  work  assigned  him  beautifully 
executed.  He  read  the  Declaration  once  and  again. 
Another  hour  was  expended  in  the  consideration  of  cer 
tain  expressions  in  it  But  ho  changes  were  made.  It 
was  then  submitted  for  signatures ;  and  Thomas  Whit- 
son,  of  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania,  being  obliged  to 
leave  the  city  immediately,  came  forward  and  had  the 
honor  of  signing  it  first.  Sixty-one  others  subscribed 
their  names  on  the  6th  day  of  December,  1833. 

If  I  ever  boast  of  anything  it  is  this  :  that  I  was 
a  member  of  the  Convention  that  instituted  the  Ameri 
can  Antislavery  Society.  That  assembly,  gathered  from 
eleven  different  States  of  our  Republic,  was  composed  of 
devout  men  of  every  sect  and  of  no  sect  in  religion,  of 
each  political  party  and  of  neither ;  but  they  were  all 
of  one  mind.  They  evidently  felt  that  they  had  come 
together  for  a  purpose  higher  and  better  than  that  of 
any  religious  sect  or  political  party.  Never  have  I  seen 
men  so  ready,  so  anxious  to  rid  themselves  of  whatso 
ever  was  narrow,  selfish,  or  merely  denominational.  I 
was  all  the  more  affected  by  the  manifestation  of  this 
spirit,  because  I  had  been  living  for  ten  years  in  Connec 
ticut,  where  every  one  who  did  not  profess  a  faith  esseu- 


90  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

tially  "  Orthodox  "  was  peremptorily  proscribed.  In  the 
Philadelphia  Convention  there  were  but  two  or  three  of 
my  sect,  which  you  know  at  that  time  had  but  few 
avowed  adherents  anywhere  except  in  the  eastern  half 
of  Massachusetts,  and  was  then,  much  more  than  now, 
especially  obnoxious  to  all  other  religionists  in  the  land. 
Yet  we  were  cordially  treated  as  brethren,  admitted 
freely,  without  reserve  or  qualification,  into  that  goodly 
fellowship.  They  were  indeed  a  company  of  the  Lord's 
freemen,  a  truly  devout  company.  And  the  scrupulous 
regard  for  the  rights  of  the  human  mind,  no  less  than  for 
the  other  natural  rights  of  man,  was  shown  from  the  be 
ginning  to  the  end  of  the  Convention. 

Much  the  largest  number  of  any  sect  present  were 
what  were  then,  and  are  now,  called  Orthodox,  or  Evan 
gelical.  There  were  ten  or  twelve  ministers  of  one  or  the 
other  of  those  denominations  that  claim  to  be  Orthodox  ; 
yet  I  distinctly  remember  that  some  of  them  were  the 
most  forward  and  eager  to  lay  aside  sectarianism,  and 
their  generous  example  was  gladly  followed  by  all  others. 
At  the  suggestion  of  an  Orthodox  brother,  and  without 
a  vote  of  the  Convention,  our  President  himself,  then  an 
Orthodox  minister,  readily  condescended  to  the  scruples 
of  our  Quaker  brethren,  so  far  as  not  to  call  upon  any 
individual  to  offer  prayer ;  but  at  the  opening  of  our  ses 
sions  each  day  he  gave  notice  that  a  portion  of  time 
would  be  spent  in  prayer.  Any  one  prayed  aloud  who 
was  moved  so  to  do. 

It  was  at  the  suggestion  also  of  an  Orthodox  member 
that  we  agreed  to  dispense  with  all  titles,  civil  or  eccle 
siastical.  Accordingly,  you  will  not  find  in  the  published 
minutes  of  the  Convention  appendages  to  any  names,  — 
neither  D.  D.,  nor  Rev.,  nor  Hon.,  nor  Esq.,  —  no,  not 
even  plain  Mr.  We  met  as  fellow-men,  in  the  cause  of 
suffering  fellow-men. 


THE  PHILADELPHIA   CONVENTION.  01 

When  the  resolution  was  read  recommending  the  in 
stitution  of  a  monthly  "concert  of  prayer"  for  the  abo 
lition  of  slavery,  a  Quaker  objected  to  its  passage,  on 
the  ground  that  he  believed  not  in  stated  times  and  sea 
sons  for  prayers,  but  that  then  only  can  we  truly  pray 
when  we  are  moved  to  do  so  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  Effing- 
ham  L.  Capron,  a  member  of  the  "  Society  of  Friends," 
immediately  and  earnestly  expressed  regret  that  his 
brother  had  interposed  such  an  objection.  "  For,"  said 
he,  "this  measure  is  only  to  be  recommended  by  the 
Convention,  not  insisted  on,  much  less  to  be  incorporat 
ed  into  the  constitution  of  the  society  we  have  formed; 
and  such  is  the  liberal,  catholic  spirit  of  all  here  pres- 
sent,"  he  added,  "  that  I  do  not  suspect  any  one  wishes 
to  urge  the  measure  upon  those  who  would  have  consci 
entious  scruples  against  it."  "  Certainly  not,  certainly 
not,"  said  the  mover  of  the  resolution.  "  Certainly  not, 
certainly  not,"  was  responded  from  all  parts  of  the  hall. 
On  this  explanation  the  brother  withdrew  his  opposi 
tion,  and  the  resolution  passed,  nem.  con. 

LUCRETIA  MOTT. 

A  number  of  excellent  women,  most  of  them  of  the 
"  Society  of  Friends,"  were  in  constant  attendance  upon 
the  meetings  of  the  Convention,  which  continued  three 
days  successively,  without  adjournment  for  dinner.  On 
the  afternoon  of  the  second  day,  in  the  midst  of  a  very 
interesting  debate  (I  think  it  was  on  the  use  of  the  pro 
ductions  of  slave-labor),  a  sweet  female  voice  was  heard. 
It  was  Lucretia  Mott's.  She  had  risen  and  commenced 
speaking,  but  was  hesitating,  because  she  feared  the 
larger  part  of  the  Convention  not  being  Quakers  might 
think  it  "  a  shame  for  a  woman  to  speak  in  a  church," 
and  she  was  unwilling  to  give  them  offence.  Her  beau- 


92  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

tiful  countenance  was  radiant  with  the  thoughts  that 
had  moved  her  to  speak ;  and  the  expression  was  made 
all  the  more  engaging  by  the  emotion  of  deference  to 
the  supposed  prejudices  of  her  auditors,  with  which  it 
was  suffused. 

Our  President,  Beriah  Green,  conferred  not  with  flesh 
and  blood,  but,  filled  as  he  was  with  the  liberal  spirit 
of  the  apostle  who  wrote,  "  There  is  neither  Jew  nor 
Greek,  there  is  neither  male  nor  female ;  for  ye  are  all 
one  in  Christ  Jesus,"  at  once,  without  waiting  for  the  for 
mal  sanction  of  the  Convention,  cried  out  in  the  most 
encouraging,  cordial  tone,  "  Go  on,  ma'am,  we  shall  all 
be  glad  to  hear  you."  "  Go  on,"  "  Go  on,"  was  re 
sponded  by  many  voices.  She  did  go  on ;  and  no  man 
who  was  there  will  dissent  from  me  when  I  add  that 
she  made  a  more  impressive  and  effective  speech  than 
any  other  that  was  made  in  the  Convention,  excepting 
only  our  President's  closing  address. 

Lucretia  Mott  afterwards  spoke  repeatedly  ;  and  one 
or  two  graceful  amendments  of  the  language  of  our 
Declaration  were  made  at  her  suggestion.  Two  other 
excellent  women  also  took  part  in  our  discussions,  — 
Esther  Moore  and  Lydia  White,  —  and  they  spoke  to 
good  purpose.  Now,  that  no  brother  was  scandalized  by 
this  procedure  (and  there  were  several  there  who  after 
wards  opposed  us  on  the  "  woman  question,")  we  have 
evidence  enough  in  the  following  resolution,  which  was 
passed  near  the  close  of  the  third  day,  without  dissent 
or  a  word  to  qualify  or  limit  its  application  :  "  Resolved, 
that  the  thanks  of  the  Convention  be  presented  to  our 
female  friends  for  the  deep  interest  they  have  mani 
fested  in  the  cause  of  antislavery,  during  the  long  and 
fatiguing  session  of  the  Convention."  Was  not  the  fact 
that  three  of  our  female  friends  had  taken  an  active  part 
in  our  meetings,  had  repeatedly  "  spoken  in  the  church  " 


THE   PHILADELPHIA   CONVENTION.  93 

—  must  not  this  fact  have  been  prominent  to  the  view 
of  every  one  who  was  called  to  vote  on  the  above  reso 
lution  ?  And  yet  I  do  aver  that  I  heard  not  a  word, 
either  in  or  out  of  the  hall,  censuring  their  course,  or 
expressing  regret  that  they  had  been  allowed  to  take 
part  in  our  discussions.  Far  otherwise.  It  seemed  to  be 
regarded  as  another  of  the  many  indications  we  had 
seen  of  the  deep  hold  which  the  antislavery  cause  had 
taken  of  the  public  heart.  We  remembered  in  the  his 
tory  of  our  race  that,  (although  women  had  ordinarily 
kept  themselves  in  the  retirement  of  domestic  life,)  in  the 
great  emergencies  of  humanity,  —  in  those  imminent 
crises  which  have  tried  men's  souls,  and  from  which  we 
date  the  signal  advances  of  civilization,  —  women  have 
always  been  conspicuous  at  the  martyr's  stake,  in  the 
councils  of  Church  and  State,  and  even  in  the  conduct 
of  armies.  We  therefore  hailed  the  deep  interest  mani 
fested  by  them  in  the  cause  of  our  oppressed  country 
men,  as  an  omen  that  another  triumph  of  humanity  was 
at  hand.  No  one  suggested  that  it  would  be  well  to 
invite  the  women  to  enroll  their  names  as  members  of 
the  Convention  and  sign  the  Declaration.  It  was  not 
thought  of  in  season.  But  I  have  not  a  doubt,  such  was 
the  spirit  of  that  assembly,  that,  if  the  proposal  had 
been  made,  it  would  have  been  acceded  to  joyfully  by  a 
large  majority,  if  not  by  all.  We  had  not  convened 
there  to  shape  our  enterprise  to  the  received  opinions  or 
usages  of  any  sect  or  party.  We  were  not  careful  to  do 
what  might  please  "the  scribes  and  pharisees  and  rulers 
of  the  people."  We  had  come  together  at  the  cry  of 
suffering,  wronged,  outraged  millions.  We  had  come  to 
say  and  do  what,  we  hoped,  would  rouse  the  nation  to  a 
sense  of  her  tremendous  iniquity.  We  were  willing,  we 
were  anxious,  that  all  who  had  ears  to  hear  should  hear 
"  the  truth  which  only  tyrants  dread."  And  I  have  no 


94  RISE  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

doubt,  that  at  that  time  all  immediate  Abolitionists 
would  have  readily  consented  that  every  one  (man  or 
woman)  who  had  the  power  had  also  the  right  to  utter 
that  truth ;  to  utter  it  with  the  pen  or  with  the  living 
voice  ;  to  utter  it  at  the  fireside  in  the  private  circle,  or 
to  the  largest  congregation  from  the  pulpit,  or,  if  need 
be,  from  the  house-top.  It  was  not  then  in  our  hearts 
to  bid  any  one  be  silent,  who  might  be  moved  to  plead  for 
the  down-trodden  millions  in  our  country  who  were  not 
permitted  to  speak  for  themselves.  We  were  will 
ing  "  that  the  very  stones  should  cry  out,"  if  they 
would. 

The  subjects  that  elicited  most  discussion  in  the  Con 
vention  were  Colonization  ;  the  use  of  the  productions  of 
slave-labor ;  the  doctrine  of  compensation  ;  and  the  duty 
of  relying  wholly  on  moral  power.  The  results  to  which 
we  came  are  expressed  in  the  Constitution,  the  Declara 
tion,  or  the  Resolutions  that  were  passed. 

No  one  can  read  the  published  minutes  of  our  pro 
ceedings,  and  not  perceive  how  emphatically  and  solemn 
ly  we  avowed  the  determination  not  to  commit  the  cause 
we  had  espoused  in  any  way  to  an  arm  of  flesh,  but  to 
trust  wholly  to  the  power  of  truth  and  the  influence  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  change  the  hearts  of  slaveholders 
and  their  abettors.  This  principle,  which  was  repudi 
ated  by  a  portion  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society 
under  the  excitement  caused  by  the  murder  of  Lovejoy 
in  1837,  was  accounted  by  a  large  majority  of  the  Con 
vention  as  the  principle  upon  which  our  enterprise  should 
be  prosecuted,  or  could  be  brought  to  a  peaceful  triumph. 
Those  only  who  were  ready  to  take  up  the  cross,  to  suf 
fer  loss,  shame,  and  even  death,  seemed  to  us  then  fit  to 
engage  in  the  work  we  proposed.  The  third  article  of 
the  Constitution  was  as  follows  :  "  This  Society  will 
never,  in  any  way,  countenance  the  oppressed  in  vindicat- 


THE  PHILADELPHIA   CONVENTION.  95 

ing  their  rights  by  physical  force."  And  the  pacific  spirit 
and  intentions  of  the  Society  were  still  more  distinctively 
and  emphatically  set  forth  in  the  Declaration,  in  exposi 
tion  of  the  third  article  above  quoted.  That  document  be 
gins  with  an  allusion  to  the  Magna  Charta  of  the  Ameri 
can  Revolution,  which  was  prepared  and  signed  fifty-seven 
years  before  in  the  very  city  where  we  were  assembled. 
It  exhibits  clearly  the  contrast  between  our  philanthropic 
enterprise  and  that  of  our  fathers.  It  says  :  "  Their 
principles  led  them  to  wage  war  against  their  oppressors, 
and  to  spill  human  blood  like  water  in  order  to  be  free. 
Ours  forbid  the  doing  of  evil  that  good  may  come,  and  lead 
us  to  reject,  and  entreat  the  oppressed  to  reject,  the  use  of 
any  carnal  weapons  for  deliverance  from  bondage ;  relying 
solely  upon  those  which  are  spiritual  and  '  mighty  through 
God '  to  the  pulling  down  of  strongholds.  Their  meas 
ures  were  physical, — the  marshalling  in  arms,  the  hos 
tile  array,  the  mortal  encounter.  Ours  shall  be  such 
only  as  the  opposition  of  moral  purity  to  moral  corrup 
tion,  the  destruction  of  error  by  the  potency  of  truth, 
the  overthrow  of  prejudice  by  the  power  of  love,  the 
abolition  of  slavery  by  the  spirit  of  repentance." 

This  language  was  not  adopted  hastily  or  inconsider 
ately.  Its  import  was  duly  weighed.  A  few  of  the 
members  hesitated.  They  were  not  non-resistants.  They 
were  not,  at  first,  ready  to  say  they  would  not  fight,  if 
they  should  be  roughly  used  by  the  opposers  of  our 
cause.  But  it  was  strenuously  urged  in  reply  that, 
whatever  might  be  true  as  to  the  right  of  self-defence, 
in  the  prosecution  of  our  great  undertaking,  violent  re 
sistance  to  the  injurious  treatment  we  might  receive 
would  have  a  disastrous  effect.  It  was  insisted  that  we 
ought  to  go  forth  to  labor  for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  in 
the  spirit  of  Christian  reformers,  expecting  to  be  perse 
cuted,  and  resolved  never  to  return  evil  for  evil.  The  re- 


96  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

suit  of  our  discussion  was  that  all  the  members  of  the 
Convention  signed  the  Declaration,  thereby  pledging 
themselves,  and  all  who  should  thereafter  sign  the  Con 
stitution  —  "  Come  what  may  to  our  persons,  our  inter 
ests,  or  our  reputations.;  whether  we  live  to  witness  the 
triumph  of  liberty,  justice,  and  humanity,  or  perish  un 
timely  as  martyrs  in  this  great,  benevolent,  and  holy 
cause." 

Such  was  the  spirit  that  at  last  pervaded  the  whole 
body.  I  cannot  describe  the  holy  enthusiasm  which 
lighted  up  every  face  as  we  gathered  around  the  table 
on  which  the  Declaration  lay,  to  put  our  names  to  that 
sacred  instrument.  It  seemed  to  me  that  every  man's 
heart  was  in  his  hand,  —  as  if  every  one  felt  that  he  was 
about  to  offer  himself  a  living  sacrifice  in  the  cause  of 
freedom,  and  to  do  it  cheerfully.  There  are  moments 
when  heart  touches  heart,  and  souls  flow  into  one  an 
other.  That  was  such  a  moment.  I  was  in  them  and 
they  in  me  ;  we  were  all  one.  There  was  no  need  that 
each  should  tell  the  other  how  he  felt  and  what  he 
thought,  for  we  were  in  each  other's  bosoms.  I  am 
sure  there  was  not,  in  all  our  hearts,  the  thought  of  ever 
making  violent,  much  less  mortal,  defence  of  the  liberty 
of  speech,  or  the  freedom  of  the  press,  or  of  our  own  per 
sons,  though  we  foresaw  that  they  all  would  be  griev 
ously  outraged.  Our  President,  Beriah  Green,  in  his 
admirable  closing  speech,,  gave  utterance  to  what  we 
all  felt  and  intended  should  be  our  course  of  conduct. 
He  distinctly  foretold  the  obloquy,  the  despiteful  treat 
ment,  the  bitter  persecution,  perhaps  even  the  cruel 
deaths  we  were  going  to  encounter  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  undertaking  to  which  we  had  bound  ourselves. 
Not  an  intimation  fell  from  his  lips  that,  in  any  extrem 
ity,  we  were  to  resort  to  carnal  weapons  and  fight  rather 
than  die  in  the  cause.  Much  less  did  he  intimate  that 


MRS.   L.  MARIA   CHILD.  97 

it  might  ever  be  proper  for  us  to  defend,  by  deadly 
weapons,  the  liberty  of  speech  and  the  press.  0  no ! 
The  words  which  came  glowing  from  his  lips  were  of  a 
very  different  import.  He  exhorted  us  most  solemnly, 
most  tenderly,  to  cherish  the  Holy  Spirit  which  he  felt 
was  then  in  all  our  hearts,  and  go  forth  ta  our  several 
places  of  labor  willing  to  suffer  shame,  loss  of  property, 
and,  if  need  be,  even  of  life,  in  the  cause  of  human 
rights ;  but  not  intending  to  hurt  a  hair  of  the  heads  of 
our  opposers,  whom  we  ought  to  regard  in  pity  more 
than  in  anger.  Would  that  every  syllable  which  he  ut 
tered  had  been  engraven  upon  some  imperishable  tablet ! 
Would  that  the  spirit  which  then  inspired  him  had 
been  infused  into  the  bosom  of  every  one  who  has  since 
engaged  in  the  antislavery  cause  ! 

MES.  L.  MAEIA  CHILD. 

The  account  I  have  given  above  of  the  valuable  ser 
vices  rendered  in  the  Philadelphia  Convention  by  Lu- 
cretia  Mott,  Esther  Moore,  and  Lydia  White,  doubtless 
reminded  my  readers  of  many  other  excellent  women, 
whose  names  stand  high  among  the  early  antislavery  re 
formers.  The  memories  of  them  are  most  precious  to 
me.  If  I  live  to  write  out  half  of  my  Recollections, 
and  you  do  not  weary  of  them,  I  shall  make  most  grate 
ful  mention  of  our  female  fellow-laborers  in  general,  of 
several  of  them  in  particular,  though  I  cannot  do  ample 
justice  to  any. 

There  is  one  of  whom  I  must  speak  now,  because  I 
have  already  passed  the  time,  at  which  her  inestimable 
services  commenced.  In  July,  1833,  when  the  number, 
the  variety,  and  the  malignity  of  our  opponents  had  be 
come  manifest,  we  were  not  much  more  delighted  than 
surprised  by  the  publication  of  a  thoroughgoing  anti- 


98  RISE  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

slavery  volume,  from  the  pen  of  Mrs.  Lydia  Maria  Child. 
She  was  at  that  time,  perhaps,  the  most  popular  as  well 
as  useful  of  our  female  writers.     None  certainly,  except 
ing  Miss  Sedgwick,  rivalled  her.     The  North  American 
Review,  then,  if  not  now,  the  highest  authority  on  matters 
of  literary  criticism,  said  at  the  time  :  "  We  are  not  sure 
that  any  woman  in  our  country  would  outrank  Mrs.  Child. 
This  lady  has  long  been  before  the  public  as  an  author 
with  much  success.     And  she  well  deserves  it,  for  in  all 
her  works  we  think  that  nothing  can  be  found  which 
does  not  commend  itself  by  its  tone  of  healthy  morality 
and  good  sense.     Few  female  writers,  if  any,  have  done 
more  or  better  things  for  our  literature,  in  its  lighter  or 
graver  departments."     That  such  an  author  —  ay,  such 
an  authority — should  espouse  our  cause  just  at  that  crisis, 
I  do  assure  you,  was  a  matter  of  no  small  joy,  yes,  exul 
tation.     She  was  extensively  known  hi  the  Southern  as 
well  as  the  Northern  States,  and  her  books  commanded 
a  ready  sale  there  not  less  than  here.     We  had  seen  her 
often  at  our  meetings.     We  knew  that  she  sympathized 
with  her  brave  husband  in  his  abhorrence  of  our  Ameri 
can  system  of  slavery ;  but  we  did  not  know  that  she 
had  so  carefully  studied  and  thoroughly  mastered  the 
subject.     Nor  did  we  suspect  that  she  possessed  the 
power,  if  she  had  the  courage,  to  strike  so  heavy  a  blow. 
Why,  the  very  title-page  was  pregnant  with  the  gist  of 
the  whole  matters  under  dispute  between  us,  —  "  Imme 
diate  Abolitionists,"   and  the   slaveholders  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  Colonizationists  on  the  other, —  "An  Appeal 
in  Favor  of  that  Class  of  Americans  CALLED  Africans.''1 
The  volume,  still  prominent  in  the  literature  of  our  con 
flict,  is  replete  with  facts  showing,  not  only  the  horrible 
cruelties  that  had  been  perpetrated  by  individual  slave 
holders  or  their  overseers,  but  the  essential  barbarity  of  the 
system  of  slavery,  its  dehumanizing  influences  upon  those 


MRS.   L.   MARIA   CHILD.  90 

who  enforced  it  scarcely  less  than  upon  those  who  were 
crushed  under  it.  Her  book  did  us  an  especially  valua 
ble  service  in  showing,  to  those  who  had  paid  little  atten 
tion  to  the  subject,  that  the  Africans  are  not  by  nature 
inferior  to  other  —  even  the  white  —  races  of  men ;  but 
that  "  Ethiopia  held  a  conspicuous  place  among  the 
nations  of  ancient  times.  Her  princes  were  wealthy  and 
powerful,  and  her  people  distinguished  for  integrity  and 
wisdom.  Even  the  proud  Grecians  evinced  respect  for 
Ethiopia,  almost  amounting  to  reverence,  and  derived 
thence  the  sublimest  portions  of  their  mythology.  And 
the  popular  belief,  that  all  the  gods  made  an  annual 
visit  to  feast  with  the  excellent  Ethiopians,  shows  the 
high  estimation  in  which  they  were  then  held,  for  we 
are  not  told  that  such  an  honor  was  bestowed  on  any 
other  nation."  Mrs.  Child's  exposure  of  the  fallacy  of 
the  Colonization  scheme,  as  well  as  the  falsity  of  the 
pretensions  put  forth  by  its  advocates,  amply  sustained 
all  Mr.  Garrison's  accusations.  And  her  expose  of  the 
principles  of  the  "  Immediate  Abolitionists  "  was  clear, 
and  her  defence  of  them  was  impregnable. 

This  "  Appeal "  reached  thousands  who  had  given  no 
heed  to  us  before,  and  made  many  converts  to  the  doc 
trines  of  Mr.  Garrison. 

Of  course,  what  pleased  and  helped  us  so  much  gave 
proportionate  offence  to  slaveholders,  Colonizationists, 
and  their  Northern  abettors.  Mrs.  Child  was  denounced. 
Her  effeminate  admirers,  both  male  and  female,  said 
there  were  "  some  very  indelicate  things  in  her  book," 
though  there  was  nothing  narrated  in  it  that  had  not 
been  allowed,  if  not  perpetrated,  by  "  the  refined,  hos 
pitable,  chivalric  gentlemen  and  ladies  "  on  their  South 
ern  plantations.  The  politicians  and  statesmen  scouted 
the  woman  who  "  presumed  to  criticise  so  freely  the  con 
stitution  and  government  of  her  country.  Women  had 


100  RISE  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

better  let  politics  alone."  And  certain  ministers  gravely 
foreboded  "  evil  and  ruin  to  our  country,  if  the  women 
generally  should  follow  Mrs.  Child's  bad  example,  and 
neglect  their  domestic  duties  to  attend  to  the  affairs  of 
state." 

Mrs.  Child's  popularity  was  reversed.  Her  writings 
on  other  subjects  were  no  longer  sought  after  with  the 
avidity  that  was  shown  for  them  before  the  publication 
of  her  "  Appeal."  Most  of  them  were  sent  back  to  their 
publishers  from  the  Southern  bookstores,  with  the  notice 
that  the  demand  for  her  books  had  ceased.  The  sale  of 
them  at  the  North  was  also  greatly  diminished.  It  was 
said  at  the  time  that  her  income  from  the  productions 
of  her  pen  was  lessened  six  or  eight  hundred  dollars  a 
year.  But  this  did  not  daunt  her.  On  the  contrary,  it 
roused  her  to  greater  exertion,  as  it  revealed  to  her  more 
fully  the  moral  corruption  which  slavery  had  diffused 
throughout  our  country,  and  summoned  her  patriotism 
as  well  as  her  benevolence  to  more  determined  conflict 
with  our  nation's  deadliest  enemy.  Indeed,  she  conse 
crated  herself  to  the  cause  of  the  enslaved.  Many  of 
her  publications  since  then  have  related  to  the  great 
subject,  viz. :  The  Oasis,  Antislavery  Catechism,  Au 
thentic  Anecdotes,  Evils  and  Cure  of  Slavery,  Other 
Tracts,  Life  of  Isaac  T.  Hopper,  and,  more  than  all, 
her  letters  to  Governor  Wise,  of  Virginia,  and  to  Mrs.  "Ma 
son,  respecting  John  Brown.  Those  letters  had  an  im 
mense  circulation  throughout  the  free  States,  and  were 
blazoned  by  all  manner  of  anathemas  in  the  Southern 
papers.  Her  letter  to  Mrs.  Mason  especially  was  copied 
by  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  was  doubtless  one  of  the 
efficient  agencies  that  prepared  the  mind  of  the  North 
for  the  final  great  crisis. 

For  several  years,  assisted  by  her  husband,  Mrs.  Child 
edited  the  Antislavery  Standard,  elevated  its  literary 


MRS.   L.   MARIA   CHILD.  101 

character,  extended  its  circulation,  and  increased  its 
efficiency. 

But,  in  a  more  private  way,  this  admirable  woman 
rendered  the  early  Abolitionists  most  important  services. 
She,  together  with  Mrs.  Maria  W.  Chapman  and  Eliza 
Lee  Follcn,  and  others,  of  whom  I  shall  write  hereafter, 
were  presiding  genuises  in  all  our  councils  and  more 
public  meetings,  often  proposing  the  wisest  measures, 
and  suggesting  to  those  who  were  "  allowed  to  speak  in 
the  assembly  "  the  most  weighty  thoughts,  pertinent 
facts,  apt  illustrations,  which  they  could  not  be  persuad 
ed  to  utter  aloud.  Repeatedly  in  those  early  days,  be 
fore  Angelina  and  Sarah  Grimke  had  taught  others  be 
sides  Quaker  women  "to  speak  in  meeting,"  if  they  had 
anything  to  say  that  was  worth  hearing,  —  repeatedly 
did  I  spring  to  the  platform,  crying,  "  Hear  me  as  the 
mouthpiece  of  Mrs.  Child,  or  Mrs.  Chapman,  or  Mrs. 
Follen,"  and  convulsed  the  audience  with  a  stroke  of 
wit,  or  electrified  them  with  a  flash  of  eloquence,  caught 
from  the  lips  of  one  or  the  other  of  our  antislavery 
prophetesses. 

N.  B.  —  That  Mrs.  Child,  when  she  became  an  Abo 
litionist,  did  not  become  a  woman  "  of  one  idea  "  is 
evinced,  not  only  by  her  two  volumes  of  enchanting 
"  Letters  from  New  York,"  "  Memoirs  of  Madame  de 
Stael  "  and  "  Madame  Roland,"  "  Biographies  of  Good 
Wives,"  and  several  exquisite  books  for  children,  but  still 
more  by  her  three  octavo  volumes,  entitled  "  Progress 
of  Religious  Ideas,"  which  must  have  been  the  result  of 
a  vast  amount  of  reading  and  profound  thought  on  all 
the  subjects  of  theology  and  religion.  Her  later  work, 
"Looking  towards  Sunset,"  is  full  of  beautiful  ideas 
about  that  future  life,  for  which  her  untiring  devotion 
to  all  the  humanities  in  this  life  must  have  so  fully  pre 
pared  her. 


Of   THE 

UNIVERSITY 


102  ERUPTION   OF  LANE  SEMINARY. 


ERUPTION  OF  LANE  SEMINARY. 

LANE  SEMINARY  was  an  institution  established  by  our 
orthodox  fellow-Christians,  mainly  for  the  preparation  of 
young  men  for  the  ministry.  It  attained  so  much  im 
portance  in  the  estimation  of  its  patrons,  that,  in  1832, 
they  claimed  for  it  the  services  and  the  reputation  of 
Eev.  Dr.  Beecher,  who  left  Boston  at  that  time  and  be 
came  its  president.  There  he  found,  or  was  soon  after 
joined  by,  Prof.  Calvin  E.  Stowe,  another  distinguished 
teacher  of  Calvinistic  theology.  This  school  of  the 
prophets  was  placed  on  Walnut  Hill,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Cincinnati,  that  it  might  be  near  to  the  Southwestern 
States,  and  was  separated  from  Kentucky  only  by  the 
river  Ohio.  It  had  attracted,  by  the  reputation  of  its 
Faculty,  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  quite  a  number 
of  remarkably  able,  earnest,  conscientious,  and,  as  they 
proved  to  be,  eloquent  young  men. 

At  the  time  when  the  signal  event  occurred  of  which 
I  am  now  to  give  some  account,  there  were  in  the  liter 
ary  and  theological  departments  of  Lane  Seminary  more 
than  a  hundred  students.  Eleven  of  these  were  from 
different  slave  States;  seven  of  them  sons  of  slavehold 
ers,  one  himself  a  slaveholder  when  he  entered  the  in 
stitution,  and  one  of  the  number  —  James  Bradley  — 
had  emancipated  himself  from  the  cruel  bondage  by  the 
payment  of  a  large  sum,  that  he  had  earned  by  extra 
labor.  Besides  these,  there  were  ten  of  the  students 
who  had  resided  more  or  less  in  the  slave  States,  and 
were  well  acquainted  with  the  condition  of  the  people, 
and  the  influence  of  their  "  peculiar  institution  "  of  do 
mestic  servitude.  Moreover,  that  you  may  appreciate 
fully  the  importance  of  the  event  I  am  going  to  narrate 
to  you,  and  know  that  it  was  not  (as  some  at  the  time 


ERUPTION  OF  LANE  SEMINARY.       103 

represented  it  to  be)  a  boyish  prank,  or  mere  college  re 
bellion, —  "  a  tempest  in  a  teapot,"  —  let  me  tell  you 
that  the  youngest  student  in  the  seminary  was  nineteen 
years  of  age,  most  of  the  students  were  more  than 
twenty-six  years  old,  and  several  of  them  were  over 
thirty.  They  were  sober,  Christian  men,  who  were  pre 
paring  themselves,  in  good  earnest,  to  preach  the  Gos 
pel  ;  and  they  believed  that  one  of  its  proclamations  was 
"  liberty  to  the  captives,  let  the  oppressed  go  free,  break 
every  yoke." 

Soon  after  the  seminary  was  opened,  a  Colonization 
Society  was  formed  among  the  students.  At  the  time  of 
which  I  speak  most  of  them  were  members  of  that  So 
ciety,  and  were  encouraged  by  the  Faculty  so  to  be.  But 
the  publication  of  Mr.  Garrison's  "  Thoughts  on  Coloni 
zation,"  and  the  formation  of  the  "  American  Antislavery 
Society,"  attracted  the  attention  of  some  of  their  num 
ber.  Conversations  arose  on  the  subject  between  them 
and  their  fellows.  An  anxious  inquiry  was  awakened 
as  to  the  truth  of  the  allegations  brought  against  the 
Colonization  scheme,  and  as  to  the  justice  of  the  new 
demand  made  by  Mr.  Garrison  and  his  associates  for 
the  "  immediate  abolition  of  slavery."  At  length,  in 
February,  1834,  it  was  proposed  that  there  should  be 
a  thorough  public  discussion  of  two  questions  :  — 

1st.  Whether  the  people  of  the  slaveholding  States 
ought  to  abolish  slavery  at  once,  and  without  prescrib 
ing,  as  a  condition,  that  the  emancipated  should  be  sent 
to  Liberia,  or  elsewhere,  out  of  our  country  1 

2d.  Whether  the  doctrines,  tendencies,  measures,  spirit 
of  the  Colonization  Society  were  such  as  to  render  it 
worthy  of  the  patronage  of  Christian  people  ? 

We  were  informed  at  the  time,  by  several  who  were 
cognizant  of  the  fact,  that  the  Faculty,  fearing  the  effect 
of  such  a  discussion  upon  the  prosperity  of  the  seminary, 


104  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

officially  and  earnestly  advised  that  it  should  be  indefi 
nitely  postponed.  But  many  of  the  students  had  be 
come  too  deeply  interested  in  these  questions  to  consent 
that  they  should  remain  unsettled.  They  were  therefore 
discussed,  —  each  one  through  nine  evenings,  —  in  the 
presence  of  the  President  and  most  of  the  Faculty,  fully, 
faithfully,  earnestly,  but  courteously  debated.  The  re 
sults  were,  on  the  first  question,  an  almost  unanimous 
vote  to  this  effect :  that  "  Immediate  emancipation  from 
slavery  was  the  right  of  every  slave  and  the  duty  of  every 
slaveholder."  And  on  the  second  question  it  was  voted, 
by  a  large  majority,  "  That  the  American  Colonization 
Society  and  its  scheme  were  not  deserving  of  the  ap 
probation  and  aid  of  Christians."  This  was  the  purport, 
if  not  the  exact  language,  of  the  resolutions  at  the  close 
of  the  debate  of  eighteen  evenings. 

The  report  of  the  proceeding  and  the  result  went 
speedily  through  the  land  ;  and,  as  speedily,  there  came 
back,  from  certain  quarters,  no  stinted  measure  of  con 
demnation,  warning,  threats.  These  so  alarmed  the  Fac 
ulty  that,  as  soon  as  was  practicable,  they  formally  pro 
hibited  the  continued  existence  of  an  Antislavery  Society 
among  the  students  of  Lane  Seminary ;  and  required 
that  the  Colonization  Society,  which  they  had  cherished 
hitherto,  should  be  also  disbanded  and  abolished. 

At  the  next  meeting  of  the  Overseers,  or  Corporation 
of  the  Seminary,  this  high-handed  measure  of  the  Facul 
ty  was  approved  and  confirmed.  The  remonstrance  of 
the  students  (all  but  one  of  them  adult  men,  thirty  of 
them  more  than  twenty-six  years  of  age)  availed  not  to 
procure  a  reconsideration  of  this  oppressive  decree.  Ac 
cordingly,  nearly  all  of  them  —  seventy  or  eighty  in 
number  —  withdrew  from  the  Seminary,  refusing  to  be 
the  pupils  of  theological  professors  who  showed  so  plain 
ly  that  their  sympathies  were  with  the  oppressors,  rather 


ERUPTION  OF  LANE   SEMINARY.  105 

than  with  the  oppressed ;  or  that  they  had  not  courage 
enough  to  denounce  so  egregious  a  wrong,  so  tremendous 
a  sin,  as  the  enslavement  of  millions  of  human  beings. 

Like  the  disciples  after  the  martyrdom  of  Stephen, 
these  faithful  young  men  were  scattered  abroad  through 
out  the  land,  and  went  everywhere,  preaching  the  word 
which  they  were  forbidden  to  utter  within  the  enclosure 
of  a  school,  dedicated  to  the  promulgation  of  the  religion 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

Antislavery  truth  was  disseminated  far  and  wide  by 
their  agency.  Those  who  were  the  sons  of  slaveholders 
returned  to  the  homes  of  their  parents,  and  besought 
them  and  their  neighbors  to  repent  of  their  great  un 
righteousness  and  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come.  These 
entreaties  were  not  all  lost.  Several  slaveholders  were 
converted,  and  gave  liberty  to  their  bondmen.  If  I  mis 
take  not,  the  attention  of  that  admirable  man,  Hon. 
James  G.  Birney,  of  Kentucky,  was  fixed  by  the  discus 
sions  in  Lane  Seminary,  and  by  conversations  with  the 
students  upon  the  really  evil  tendency  of  the  Coloniza 
tion  plan,  which,  with  the  best  intentions,  he  had  done 
so  much  to  promote.  At  any  rate,  his  conversion  about 
that  time  to  the  doctrine  of  "  immediate  emancipation  " 
was  an  event  of  signal  importance,  as  I  hope  to  show 
you  in  a  future  article. 

It  was  not  my  privilege  to  become  personally  acquaint 
ed  with  many  of  these  young  men,  whose  conscientious, 
courteous,  dignified,  yet  determined  course  of  conduct 
awakened  our  admiration,  and  whose  subsequent  labors 
helped  mightily  the  great  work  projected  by  the  Ameri 
can  Antislavery  Society.  Several  of  them  were  called 
to  announce  and  advocate  their  principles  in  communi 
ties  where  it  was  especially  dangerous  "  to  speak  those 
truths  which  tyrants  dread."  We  were  delighted  from 
time  to  time  by  the  accounts  that  came  to  us  of  their 
5* 


106  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

unflinching  fidelity.  And  undoubtedly  there  were  some 
cases  of  peculiar  trial  and  suffering  endured  by  them, 
which  are  treasured  among  the  secret  things  that  are  to 
be  made  known,  when  He  "  who  seeth  in  secret  will  re 
ward  men  openly." 

Amos  Dresser,  eager  to  raise  the  funds  he  needed  to 
enable  him  to  pursue  his  studies  and  complete  his 
preparation  for  the  ministry,  took  of  the  publishers  an 
agency  for  the  sale  of  the  "Cottage  Bible  "  in  Tennessee. 
For  the  transportation  of  himself  and  his  load  he  pro 
cured  a  horse  and  barouche.  He  had  proceeded  without 
molestation  as  far  as  Nashville.  There  it  was  discovered 
that  he  was  an  Abolitionist,  —  one  of  the  students  that 
had  left  Lane  Seminary  on  account  of  his  principles. 
He  was  arrested  by  order  of  the  Mayor,  and  brought  be 
fore  the  Committee  of  Vigilance.  By  them  his  trunk 
was  searched,  his  journal,  private  papers,  and  letters  were 
examined.  These  showed  plainly  enough,  and  he  prompt 
ly  acknowledged,  that  he  was  opposed  to  slavery ;  that 
he  pitied  his  fellow-men  who  were  in  bondage,  and  re 
garded  those  who  held  them  in  chains  as  guilty  of  great 
wickedness. 

Therefore,  although  there  was  not  the  slightest  proofs 
that,  thus  far,  he  had  done  or  said  anything  that  did  not 
pertain  to  his  business,  he  was  condemned  by  the  Com 
mittee  to  be  taken  out  immediately,  to  receive  twenty 
lashes  upon  his  bare  back,  and  to  depart  from  the  city 
within  twenty-four  hours.  Accordingly,  that  American 
citizen,  for  the  crime  of  believing  "  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,"  was  taken  by  the  excited  populace  to  a 
public  square  in  Nashville,  and  there  on  his  knees  re 
ceived  upon  his  naked  back  twenty  lashes,  laid  on  by  a 
city  officer  with  a  heavy  cowhide.  He  was  then  hurried 
away,  leaving  behind  him  five  hundred  dollars'  worth  of 
property,  which  was  never  restored. 


ERUPTION  OF  LANE  SEMINARY.       107 

James  A.  Thomo,  the  son  of  a  Kentucky  slaveholder, 
was  so  thoroughly  converted  to  Abolitionism  that,  during 
the  pendency  of  the  infamous  decree  of  the  Faculty  and 
Trustees  of  the  Seminary,  he  was  sent  as  a  delegate  from 
the  Antislavery  Society  which  the  students  had  formed 
to  attend  the  annual  meetings  of  the  Abolitionists  in  May, 
1834.  He  came  and  addressed  the  public  in  New  York, 
Boston,  and  elsewhere.  His  heartfelt  sincerity,  his  tender, 
fervid  eloquence,  made  a  peculiarly  deep  impression  upon 
his  audiences.  And  having  been  born  and  brought  up  in 
the  midst  of  slavery,  his  testimony  to  its  cruelties,  its 
licentiousness,  and  its  depraving  influences  was  received 
without  distrust,  though  it  sustained  the  worst  allega 
tions  that  had  ever  been  brought  against  the  domestic 
servitude  in  our  Southern  States. 

Henry  B.  Stanton  came  with  Mr.  Thome  as  another 
delegate  from  the  Lane  Seminary  Antislavery  Society  to 
the  May  meetings  of  1834.  This  then  young  man  also 
evinced  so  much  zeal  in  the  cause,  so  much  power  as  a 
speaker  and  skill  in  debate,  that  soon  after  the  dissolu 
tion  of  his  connection  with  the  seminary,,  in  the  month 
of  October  of  that  year,  he  was  appointed  an  agent  of 
the  American  Antislavery  Society,  and,  for  ten  years  or 
more  afterwards,  Mr.  Stanton  continued  to  do  us  most 
valuable  service  by  his  eloquent  lectures,  his  pertinent 
contributions  to  our  antislavery  papers,  and  his  diligence 
and  fidelity  as  one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  National 
Society. 

But  Theodore  D.  Weld  was  the  master-spirit  among 
the  Lane  Seminary  students.  Indeed,  he  was  accused 
by  the  Trustees  of  being  the  instigator  of  all  the  fanati 
cism  and  incendiary  movements  that  had  given  them  so 
much  trouble  and  threatened  the  ruin  of  the  institution. 
Accordingly,  it  was  moved  that  Mr.  Weld  be  expelled. 
No  breach  of  law  was  charged  upon  this  gentleman  j  no 


108  EISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

disrespect  to  the  Faculty,  nor  anything  implicating  in 
the  least  his  moral  character,  only  that  he  was  the  lead 
er  of  the  Abolitionists.  Still,  the  proposition  to  expel 
him  was  favored  by  the  majority  of  the  Trustees.  When, 
therefore,  the  final  action  of  the  Board  had  determined  the 
students  to  ask  for  a  dismission  from  the  seminary,  The 
odore  D.  Weld,  with  becoming  self-respect,  chose  to  re 
main  until  he  should  be  cleared  by  the  Faculty  of  all 
charges  of  misconduct.  As  soon  as  the  Board  had  had 
a  meeting  and  withdrawn  their  accusation,  he  applied 
for  and  received  an  honorable  dismission. 

Then  he  accepted  an  appointment  as  an  agent  of  the 
Antislavery  Society,  at  a  salary  less  by  half  than  was 
offered  him  by  another  benevolent  association.  And 
throughout  the  Western  and  Middle  States,  and  occa 
sionally  in  New  England,  he  lectured  with  a  frequency, 
a  fervor,  and  an  effect  that  justify  me  in  saying  that  no 
one,  excepting  only  Mr.  Garrison  and  Mr.  Phillips,  has 
done  more  than  Mr.  Weld  for  the  abolition  of  Amer 
ican  slavery. 

W7hat  a  loss  it  would  have  been  to  the  cause  of  liberty, 
if  the  Faculty  and  Trustees  of  Lane  Seminary  had  been 
wiser  men ! 


GEORGE  THOMPSON,  M.  P.,  LL.  D. 

I  AM  careful  to  affix  his  titles  to  the  name  of  this  dis 
tinguished  friend  of  humanity,  because  they  indicate,  in 
some  measure,  the  estimation  to  which  George  Thompson 
has  risen  both  in  England  and  in  the  United  States.  The 
former  title  was  conferred  upon  him  in  his  own  country, 
the  latter  in  ours.  But  both  nations  owe  him  much  more 
than  titles.  By  each  he  should  be  placed  high  on  the  list 
of  its  public  benefactors,  and  the  two  should  unite  to  give 
him  every  comfort  that  he  may  need  in  his  old  age,  and 


GEORGE  THOMPSON.  109 

enable  him  to  provide  well  for  all  who  are  dependent  upon 
him. 

George  Thompson  was  born  in  1804,  the  same  year  that 
gave  birth  to  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  and,  like  our  illus 
trious  countryman,  has  risen  to  his  high  elevation  from  a 
lowly  estate  of  life.  His  native  place  was  Liverpool,  not 
far  from  the  residence  of  William  Roscoe,  his  father  being, 
at  the  time  of  his  birth,  in  the  service  of  that  distinguished 
scholar  and  philanthropist.  He  never  attended  school  a 
day,  but,  like  Garrison,  was  indebted  to  his  mother  for  all 
elementary  instruction.  For  the  rest  of  his  acquisitions 
he  was  left  to  depend  upon  himself. 

While  he  was  quite  young  his  parents  removed  to  Lon 
don,  and  so  soon  as  he  could  be  made  serviceable  he  was 
employed  as  an  errand-boy.  Quickened  and  guided  by  his 
excellent  mother's  love  of  knowledge,  he  early  acquired  the 
habit  of  reading,  and  greedily  devoured  all  books  adapted 
to  his  age  that  she  could  procure  for  him. 

He  was  so  fortunate  as  to  attract  the  kind  regard  of  the 
Rev.  Richard  Watson,  the  distinguished  writer  and  preach 
er  in  defence  of  the  doctrines  of  Methodism.  He  was  taken 
as  a  chore-boy  into  that  good  man's  family,  and  was  with 
him,  as  his  humble  assistant  in  indoor  and  outdoor  work, 
during  most  of  the  time  that  Mr.  Watson  was  preparing 
his  most  famous  publications.  Owing  to  the  influence  of 
this  divine,  but  more  to  his  mother,  at  the  age  of  fifteen 
George  Thompson  became  the  subject  of  deep,  religious 
convictions,  and  consecrated  himself,  by  public  profes 
sion,  to  the  service  of  God  and  the  redemption  of  man. 
When  sixteen  years  old  he  was  appointed  a  Tract  dis 
tributor,  and  joined  a  society  for  visiting  and  nursing  the 
destitute  sick.  About  the  same  time  he  was  apprenticed 
to  a  grocer,  and  continued  in  his  employment  a  number 
of  years,  having  in  due  time  become  his  accountant. 

At  the  age  of  twenty  George  Thompson  was  admitted 


110  RISE  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

a  member  of  a  large  debating-club.  In  this  connection, 
he  soon  disclosed  to  those  about  him  the  value  of  the  ac 
quisitions  he  had  made  by  reading,  under  the  direction  of 
his  mother  and  Mr.  Watson  ;  and  sometimes  gave  off  more 
than  sparks  of  that  eloquence  which  since  then  has  so 
often  electrified  and  fired  his  large  audiences,  throughout 
Great  Britain  and  our  Northern  and  Western  States. 

In  the  course  of  the  years  1825, 1826,  and  1827,  the  be 
nevolent  people  of  England  were  pretty  thoroughly  roused 
by  Clarkson,  Wilberforce,  Macaulay,  and  their  brother  phi 
lanthropists,  to  a  consciousness  of  their  nation's  wicked 
ness,  in  consenting  to  the  system  of  West  India  slavery 
under  the  dominion  of  the  British  Crown.  The  question 
of  immediate  emancipation  was  agitated  everywhere 
throughout  the  realm.  It  was  introduced  into  the  de 
bating-club  which  George  Thompson  had  joined.  His 
sympathy  for  the  slaves  had  been  awakened  very  early 
in  life.  His  father,  when  a  young  man,  ran  away  from 
home,  and  enlisted  as  captain's  clerk  on  board  a  slave- 
ship,  not  knowing  what  he  did.  But  so  soon  as  he  wit 
nessed  the  embarkation  of  the  victims  of  that  accursed 
traffic,  and  the  treatment  of  them  on  the  "  middle  pas 
sage,"  he  was  too  much  horrified  to  remain  an  hour  longer, 
than  he  was  obliged  to,  in  any  way  connected  with  "  a 
business  too  bad  for  demons  to  do."  Immediately,  there 
fore,  on  the  arrival  of  his  ship  in  the  West  Indies,  he  fled 
to  an  officer  of  a  British  man-of-war,  and  begged  that  he 
might  be  impressed  into  the  naval  service,  and  so  escape 
the  repetition  of  the  horrors  he  had  seen  and  unwillingly 
helped  to  perpetrate.  Often  had  George  heard  his  father 
narrate  the  cruelties  which  were  inflicted  on  board  the 
ship  with  which  he  was  connected,  —  cruelties  insepa 
rable  from  the  forcible  transportation  of  human  beings, 
without  the  least  regard  to  their  personal  comfort,  from 
the  freedom  of  their  native  wilds  to  the  hell  of  slavery  in 


GEORGE  THOMPSON.  Ill 

America.  Thus  was  his  young  heart  and  soul  fired  with 
indignation  at  the  sin  of  his  nation,  and  baptized  into  the 
love  of  impartial  liberty.  He,  of  course,  welcomed  the 
introduction  of  the  question  into  the  club,  and  entered 
upon  the  debate  with  holy  zeal.  The  discussion  was  con 
tinued  through  twelve  evenings.  It  attracted  much  at 
tention  ;  resulted  in  a  resolution,  passed  almost  unani 
mously,  in  favor  of  immediate  emancipation;  and  was 
deemed  of  sufficient  importance  to  be  reported  to  the 
government.  Especial  mention  was  made  of  "  the  heart 
felt,  impassioned  eloquence  of  a  young  man,  named 
George  Thompson";  and  our  friend  became  the  cher 
ished  associate  of  several  gentlemen  who  have  since  been 
widely  known  among  the  active  friends  of  all  the  reforms 
and  social  improvements  that  have  blessed  Great  Britian 
and  Ireland  witbin  the  last  forty  years. 

In  1828  Mr.  Thompson  was  especially  invited  to  join 
"  The  London  Literary  and  Scientific  Association,"  com 
prising  about  a  thousand  young  men.  "  Here,  too,  the 
question  of  West  India  emancipation  came  up  for  con 
sideration,  was  earnestly  and  ably  debated  through 
three  long  evenings,  and  resulted  in  favor  of  the  im 
mediate  abolition  of  slavery.  This  result  was  attributed 
mainly  to  "  the  masterly  logic,  as  well  as  fervid  eloquence, 
of  young  Thompson."  The  newspapers  commented  on  his 
success,  as  an  augury  of  what  might  be  expected  from  him 
in  a  more  august  debating-club,  which  in  England  means 
Parliament. 

And  here  I  must  tell  you  a  family  secret.  The  lady 
who  afterwards  became  his  wife,  whose  position  in  society 
was  much  higher  than  his  own  (a  circumstance  of  far 
greater  importance  in  England  than  in  our  country),  was 
present  at  these  debates.  She  was  fired  with  such  ad 
miration  of  his  powers,  and  of  his  consecration  of  them 
to  the  cause  of  suffering  humanity,  that  it  lighted  a  kin- 


112  EISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

dred  flame  in  his  bosom  ;  or,  to  speak  in  plain  American 
English,  they  there  fell  in  love  with  each  other,  and  were 
soon  after  married. 

About  this  time  the  London  Antislavery  Society  was 
formed.  The  directors,  or  executive  committee  there 
of,  advertised  for  a  suitable  man,  who  was  willing  to  be 
come  their  lecturing  agent.  This  opened  the  door  to 
what  has  since  been  the  business  of  his  life.  He  hesitat 
ed  several  weeks,  distrusting  his  ability.  But,  encour 
aged  and  urged  by  his  young  wife,  he  at  length  con 
sented  that  the  Secretary,  Mr.  Thomas  Pringle,  should 
be  informed  of  his  wish  to  receive  an  appointment.  By 
that  gentleman  he  was  invited  to  an  interview  with  Sir 
George  Stevens  and  Rev.  Zachary  Macaulay,  who,  after 
satisfying  themselves  of  his  qualifications,  commended 
him  to  Lord  Brougham,  Lord  Denham,  and  Sir  George 
Bunting,  the  committee  that  was  to  decide  the  question 
of  appointment.  These  gentlemen,  after  an  extended 
conversation  with  him,  gave  him  a  commission  for  three 
months,  and  sent  him  forth  to  agitate  the  community  on 
the  question  of  West  India  emancipation. 

Could  you  but  turn  to  the  English  papers  of  that  day, 
you  would  see  for  yourself  how  rapidly,  and  to  what  an 
unexampled  height,  rose  his  reputation  as  a  lecturer. 
At  the  end  of  three  months,  the  demands  that  came 
from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom  for  the  services  of  Mr. 
Thompson  settled  the  question  with  the  committee. 
They  gave  him  an  appointment  until  "  the  warfare 
should  be  accomplished."  And  for  three  or  four  years 
he  was  the  principal,  if  not  the  only,  agent  of  that  So 
ciety,  performing  an  amount  of  labor  which  seems 
almost  superhuman.  In  all  parts  of  the  United  King 
dom  his  voice  was  heard,  either  in  speeches  to  the  crowds 
that  everywhere  thronged  to  listen  to  him,  or  in  debates 
with  Mr.  Bostwick  and  other  agents  hired  by  the  West 


GEORGE  THOMPSON.  113 

India  slaveholders  to  oppose  him.  And  when,  in  1833, 
the  victory  was  achieved ;  when,  overpowered  by  the 
outward  pressure,  both  Houses  of  Parliament  were  com 
pelled  to  make  a  virtue  of  necessity,  and  to  magnify  the 
glory  of  England  by  that  Act  which  gave  liberty  to  eight 
hundred  thousand  slaves,  Lord  Brougham  rose  in  the 
House  of  Lords  and  said  :  "  I  rise  to  take  the  crown  of 
this-  most  glorious  victory  from  every  other  head,  and 
place  it  upon  George  Thompson's.  He  has  done  more 
than  any  other  man  to  achieve  it."  This  tribute  was 
most  justly  deserved. 

Yet  for  all  his  labors,  his  inestimable  services,  Mr. 
Thompson  received  only  pecuniary  compensation  enough 
to  pay  his  expenses  and  support  his  small  family.  He 
asked  no  more.  He  had  consecrated  himself  to  the 
cause  of  suffering  humanity  for  its  own  sake,  not  ex 
pecting  to  be  enriched  thereby.  But  the  friends  of  that 
cause  which  he  had  served  so  well,  so  nobly,  could  not 
be  indifferent  to  his  future  career.  Lord  Brougham, 
Lord  Denham,  and  others,  confident  that  he  would  be 
come  an  ornament  and  an  honor  to  the  legal  profession, 
offered  him  all  the  assistance  he  could  need  to  defray  his 
own  and  his  family's  expenses  for  five  years,  while  he 
should  be  pursuing  his  preparatory  studies,  and  getting 
established  as  a  member  of  the  English  bar.  The  pros 
pect  thus  opened  was  most  inviting  to  him  ;  the  proposed 
profession  was  congenial  to  his  taste.  Indeed,  if  I  have 
been  correctly  informed,  the  preliminary  arrangements 
were  made,  when  the  claims  of  the  most  oppressed  of  all 
men, — the  enslaved  in  the  United  States, — were  forcibly 
urged  upon  him. 

Mr.  Garrison  had  been  in  England  several  weeks,  la 
boring  successfully  to  undeceive  the  philanthropists  and 
people  of  Great  Britain  as  to  the  real  design  and  tendency 
of  the  American  Colonization  Society.  Their  kindred 


114  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

spirits  had  met  and  mingled.  He  had  heard  Mr.  Garri 
son's  exposition,  and  had  become,  with  Clarkson,  Wil- 
berforce,  Buxton,  and  others,  fully  satisfied  that  the  ex 
patriation  of  the  free  colored  people,  their  removal  from 
this  country,  if  practicable,  would  only  perpetuate  the 
bondage  of  the  enslaved,  and  aggravate  their  wrongs. 
Mr.  Garrison,  on  the  other  hand,  had  repeatedly  wit 
nessed  the  surpassing  power  of  Mr.  Thompson's  elo 
quence  on  the  audiences  he  addressed,  had  heard  the 
tributes  everywhere  paid  to  the  importance  of  his  ser 
vices,  and  was  present  at  the  consummation  of  his  un 
sparing  labors,  —  the  passage  by  the  British  Parliament 
of  the  bill  for  the  abolition  of  West  India  slavery.  It 
was  manifest  to  him  that  the  man,  who  had  done  so 
much  for  the  overthrow  of  British  slavery,  could  help 
mightily  to  accomplish  the  far  greater  work  needed  to  be 
done  in  this  country ;  and  his  heart  was  set  on  enlisting 
Mr.  Thompson  in  the  service  of  the  American  Antislav- 
ery  Society.  He  pressed  his  wish,  his  demand,  upon 
him  just  as  Mr.  Thompson  was  about  to  agree  to  the 
above-named  arrangement  for  the  study  of  the  law.  Mr. 
Garrison's  invitation  was  not  to  be  accepted  hastily,  nor 
could  he  reject  it  without  consideration.  He  revolved  it 
anxiously  in  his  mind,  as  he  went  from  city  to  city  with 
his  now  beloved  brother,  hearing  him  portray  the  pe 
culiarities  of  the  American  system  of  slavery,  the  far 
greater  difficulties  against  which  Abolitionists  here  had 
to  contend,  the  need  we  felt  of  a  living  voice,  potent 
enough  to  wake  up  thousands  who  were  dead  in  this 
iniquity. 

On  the  eve  of  Mr.  Garrison's  departure  from  England 
in  the  fall  of  1833  Mr.  Thompson,  with  deep  emotion, 
said  to  him  :  "  I  have  thought  much  of  the  bright  pro 
fessional  prospects  opened  to  me  here.  I  have  thought 
yet  more  of  the  dark,  dismal,  desperate  condition  of 


GEORGE  THOMPSON'S  FIRST  YEAR  IN  AMERICA.    115 

millions  of  my  fellow-beings  in  your  country.  They  aro 
no  farther  from  me  than  are  the  eight  hundred  thousand 
whom  I  have  been  laboring  to  emancipate,  and  their 
claims  upon  me  for  the  help  God  may  enable  me  to  give 
them  are  just  as  strong.  I  cannot  withhold  myself  from 
their  service.  If,  on  your  return  to  Boston,  you  shall 
still  think  I  can  render  you  much  assistance,  and  your 
fellow-laborers  concur  with  you  in  that  opinion,  command 
me,  and  I  will  hasten  to  you." 

Mr.  Thompson,  however,  remained  in  England  almost 
a  year  after  Mr.  Garrison  left  him,  that  he  might  reor 
ganize  the  antislavery  hosts  who  had  triumphed  so  glori 
ously  in  the  conflict  for  British  West  India  emancipation, 
and  induce  them  to  engage  as  heartily  in  the  enterprise 
for  the  emancipation  of  the  millions  held  in  the  most 
abject  bondage  in  these  United  States,  and  for  the  abo 
lition  of  slavery  throughout  the  world. 

GEORGE  THOMPSON'S  FIRST  YEAR  IN  AMERICA. 

When,  on  his  return  from  England  in  October,  1833, 
Mr.  Garrison  informed  us  that  he  had  obtained  from 
George  Thompson  —  the  champion  of  the  triumphant 
conflict  for  West  India  emancipation  —  the  promise  to 
"  come  over  and  help  us,"  if  we  concurred  in  the  invita 
tion  Mr.  Garrison  had  given  him,  our  hearts  were  encour 
aged,  our  hands  strengthened,  our  purpose  confirmed. 
Our  own  great  antislavery  orators,  male  and  female,  who 
since  then  have  done  so  much  to  convict  and  convert 
the  nation,  had  not  yet  appeared.  Theodore  D.  Weld 
and  Henry  B.  Stanton  were  studying  theology  in  Lane 
Seminary;  Parker  Pillsbury,  Stephen  S.  Foster,  and 
John  A.  Collins  were  doing  likewise  somewhere  in  Ver 
mont  ;  Henry  C.  Wright  had  not  plucked  up  quite  cour 
age  enough  to  justify  Mr.  Garrison's  terrible  denunciations 


116  KISE  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

of  slaveholders  and  their  abettors ;  James  G.  Birney 
was  the  Secretary  of  the  Kentucky  Colonization  Society  ; 
Gerrit  Smith  had  not  got  wholly  out  of  the  toils  of  that 
fraudulent  scheme  which  had  deceived  "  the  very  elect " ; 
Charles  C.  Burleigh  was  an  unknown  youth  in  Plainfield 
Academy ;  Wendell  Phillips,  our  Apollo,  was  just  pre 
paring  to  leap  into  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  Massa 
chusetts  bar ;  and  Angelina  Grimke,  Lucy  Stone,  Abby 
Kelly  Foster,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Antoinette  L.  Brown, 
Sallie  Holley,  and  other  excellent  women,  who  have  since 
rendered  such  signal  services,  had  not  then  left  "  the  ap 
propriate  sphere  of  women." 

That  George  Thompson  would  come  to  our  aid,  the 
orator  to  whose  relentless  logic  and  surpassing  eloquence, 
more  than  to  any  other  instrumentality,  Lord  Brougham 
had  just  attributed  the  triumph  of  the  antislavery  cause 
in  England,  —  that  he  was  about  coming  to  help  us  did 
seem  at  that  time  a  godsend  indeed.  But,  as  was 
stated  in  my  last,  his  coming  was  deferred  a  year,  that 
the  Abolitionists  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  might  not 
lay  aside  their  well-used  weapons,  nor  cease  from  their 
warfare,  while  so  many  millions  of  human  beings  re 
mained  in  the  most  abject  slavery,  especially  in  the 
United  States,  where  the  horrid  institution  was  estab 
lished  by  the  authority  of  England.  Having  re-enlisted 
his  fellow-laborers  throughout  the  United  Kingdom  to 
co-operate  with  us,  he  came  to  Boston  in  the  fall  of 
1834. 

At  that  time  I  was  devoting  a  few  weeks  of  permitted 
absence  from  my  church  in  Connecticut  to  a  lecturing 
tour  in  the  antislavery  cause,  and  came  to  Mr.  Garri 
son's  house  in  Roxbury  an  hour  after  the  arrival  of  Mr. 
Thompson.  He  readily  consented  to  go  with  us  the 
next  day  to  Groton,  there  to  attend  a  county  conven 
tion.  We  gladly  spent  the  remainder  of  that  day  to- 


GEORGE  THOMPSON'S  FIRST  YEAR  IN  AMERICA.    117 

gether,  in  earnest  and  prayerful  communion  over  the 
great  work  in  which  we  had  engaged ;  and  at  night  re 
paired  to  lodge  at  the  Earl  Hotel  in  Hanover  Street,  that 
we  might  not  fail  to  be  off  for  Groton  the  next  morning 
at  four  o'clock,  in  the  first  stage-coach,  no  conveyance 
thither  by  railroad  being  extant  then. 

At  the  appointed  hour,  the  house  being  well  filled,  the 
meeting  was  called  to  order,  and  business  commenced. 
As  all  were  eager  to  see  and  hear  the  great  English 
orator,  preliminary  matters  were  disposed  of  as  soon  as 
practicable.  Then  Mr.  Thompson  was  called  up  by  a 
resolution  enthusiastically  passed,  declaring  our  appreci 
ation  of  the  inestimable  value  of  his  antislavery  labors 
in  England,  our  joy  that  he  had  come  to  aid  us  to  deliver 
our  country  from  the  dominion  of  slaveholders,  and  our 
wish  that  he  would  occupy  as  much  of  the  time  of  the 
convention  as  his  inclination  might  prompt  and  his 
strength  would  enable  him  to  do.  He  rose,  and  soon 
enchained  the  attention  of  all  present.  He  set  forth  tho 
essential,  immitigable  sin  of  holding  human  beings  as 
slaves  in  a  light,  if  possible,  more  vivid,  more  intense, 
than  even  Mr.  Garrison  had  thrown  upon  that  "  sum  of 
all  villanies."  He  illustrated  and  sustained  his  asser 
tions  by  the  most  pertinent  facts  in  the  history  of  West 
India  slavery.  He  inculcated  the  spirit  in  which  we 
ought  to  prosecute  our  endeavor  to  emancipate  the  bond 
men,  —  a  spirit  of  compassion  for  the  masters  as  well  as 
their  slaves,  —  a  compassion  too  considerate  of  the  harm 
which  the  slaveholder  suffers,  as  well  as  inflicts,  to  con 
sent  to  any  continuance  of  the  iniquity.  He  most  sol 
emnly  enjoined  the  use  of  only  moral  and  political  means 
and  instrumentalities  to  effect  the  subversion  and  exter 
mination  of  the  gigantic  system  of  iniquity,  although  it 
seemed  to  tower  above  and  overshadow  the  civil  and  re 
ligious  institutions  of  our  country.  He  showed  us  that 


118  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

he  justly  appreciated  the  greater  difficulties  of  the  work 
to  be  done  in  our  land,  than  of  that  which  had  just  been 
so  gloriously  accomplished  in  England,  but  exhorted  us 
to  trust  undoubtingly  in  "  the  might  of  the  right,"  — 
the  mercy,  the  justice,  the  power  of  God,  —  and  to  go 
forward  in  the  full  assurance  that  He,  who  had  crowned 
the  labors  of  the  British  Abolitionists  with  such  a  tri 
umph,  would  enable  us  in  like  manner  to  accomplish  the 
greater  work  he  had  given  us  to  do. 

Mr.  Thompson  then  went  on  to  give  us  a  graphic, 
glowing  account  of  the  long  and  fierce  conflict  they  had 
had  in  England  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  British 
West  Indies.  His  eloquence  rose  to  a  still  higher  order. 
His  narrative  became  a  continuous  metaphor,  admirably 
sustained.  He  represented  the  antislavery  enterprise  in 
which  he  had  been  so  long  engaged  as  a  stout,  well-built 
ship,  manned  by  a  noble-hearted  crew,  launched  upon  a 
stormy  ocean,  bound  to  carry  inestimable  relief  to  800,- 
000  sufferers  in  a  far-distant  land.  He  clothed  all  the 
kinds  of  opposition  they  had  met,  all  the  difficulties  they 
had  contended  with,  in  imagery  suggested  by  the  obser 
vation  and  experience  of  the  voyager  across  the  Atlantic 
in  the  most  tempestuous  season  of  the  year.  In  the 
height  of  his  descriptions,  my  attention  was  withdrawn 
from  the  emotions  enkindled  in  my  own  bosom  sufficient 
ly  to  observe  the  effect  of  his  eloquence  upon  half  a 
dozen  boys,  of  twelve  or  fourteen  years  of  age,  sitting 
together  not  far  from  the  platform.  They  were  com 
pletely  possessed  by  it.  When  the  ship  reeled  or  plunged 
or  staggered  in  the  storms,  they  unconsciously  went 
through  the  same  motions.  When  the  enemy  attacked 
her,  the  boys  took  the  liveliest  part  in  battle,  —  man 
ning  the  guns,  or  handing  shot  and  shell,  or  pressing 
forward  to  repulse  the  boarders.  When  the  ship  struck 
upon  an  iceberg,  the  boys  almost  fell  from  their  seats  in 


GEORGE  THOMPSON'S  FIRST  YEAR  IN  AMERICA.  119 

the  recoil.  When  the  sails  and  topmasts  were  wellnigh 
carried  away  by  the  gale,  they  seemed  to  be  straining 
themselves  to  prevent  the  damage  ;  and  when  at  length 
the  ship  triumphantly  sailed  into  her  destined  port  with 
colors  flying  and  signals  of  glad  tidings  floating  from  her 
topmast,  and  the  shout  of  welcome  rose  from  thousands 
of  expectant  freedinen  on  the  shore,  the  boys  gave  three 
loud  cheers,  "  Hurrah  !  Hurrah !  !  Hurrah  !  ! !  "  This  ir 
repressible  explosion  of  their  feelings  brought  them  at 
once  to  themselves.  They  blushed,  covered  their  faces, 
sank  down  on  their  seats,  one  of  them  upon  the  floor. 
It  was  an  ingenuous,  thrilling  tribute  to  the  surpassing 
power  of  the  orator,  and  only  added  to  the  zest  *  and 
heartiness  with  which  the  whole  audience  applauded 
(to  use  the  words  of  another  at  the  time)  "  the  persua 
sive  reasonings,  the  earnest  appeals,  the  melting  pathos, 
the  delightful  but  caustic  irony  and  enrapturing  elo 
quence  of  Mr.  Thompson." 

Thus  commenced  his  brilliant  career  in  this  country. 
The  Groton  Convention  lasted  two  days,  the  1st  and  2d 
of  October.  Mr.  Thompson  went  thence  immediately 
to  Lowell,  where  he  spoke  to  a  delighted  crowd  on  the 
5th.  Four  days  after,  on  the  9th  of  October,  he  gave 
his  first  address  in  Boston.  It  was  at  an  adjourned 
meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society.  All 
the  prominent  Abolitionists,  who  could  be,  were  there 
to  see  and  hear  "  the  almost  inspired  apostle  of  negro 
emancipation,"  who  had  "  come  over  to  help  us."  Every 
one  that  heard  him  then  felt  that  his  signal  gifts  had 
not  been  overrated,  and  joined  in  thanksgiving  to  the 
God  of  the  oppressed,  whose  Holy  Spirit,  we  believed, 
had  moved  him  to  consecrate  those  gifts  to  the  abolition 
of  slavery. 

Reports  of  Mr.  Thompson's  eloquence  spread  rapidly, 
and  invitations  came  to  him  from  all  quarters.  The  day 


120  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

after  the  meeting  in  Boston  he  went  into  the  State  of 
Maine,  and  lectured  on  the  12th  in  Portland,  on  the  13th 
in  Brunswick,  on  the  15th  in  Augusta.  Everywhere  he 
was  heard  with  delight,  and  made  many  converts.  At 
Augusta,  it  is  true,  he  received  an  angry  letter  from  five 
"  gentlemen  of  property  and  standing,"  informing  him 
that  his  "  coming  to  their  city  had  given  great  offence," 
and  admonishing  him  not  to  presume  to  address  the 
public  there  again.  But  his  engagements  elsewhere, 
rather  than  their  threats,  obliged  him  to  leave  immedi 
ately.  The  next  evening  he  lectured  in  the  neighboring 
city  of  Hallowell,  where  the  people  heard  him  gladly. 
On  the  1 7th  he  delivered  an  address  in  Waterville,  which 
was  listened  to  by  most  of  the  students  and  several  of 
the  faculty  of  the  College,  and  made  deep  impressions 
upon  a  large  number.  On  the  20th  he  spoke  again  to  a 
crowded  audience  in  Brunswick,  with  like  effect  upon 
the  students  and  faculty  of  Bowdoin  College.  Return 
ing,  he  lectured  at  Portland  in  six  different  churches,  to 
large  and  delighted  audiences,  before  the  close  of  the 
month  j  and  then  came  into  New  Hampshire  and  gave 
lectures  in  Plymouth,  Concord,  and  other  places,  on  his 
way  back  to  Boston.  After  a  few  days'  repose,  he  went 
forth  again,  in  answer  to  many  urgent  invitations,  and 
lifted  up  his  voice  for  the  enslaved  in  Rhode  Island, 
Connecticut,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio.  Who 
ever  will  turn  over  the  leaves  of  the  Liberator  for  1834 
and  1835  will  find  on  almost  every  page  some  admiring 
mention  of  Mr.  Thompson's  lectures  or  speeches,  and 
grateful  acknowledgments  of  the  deep  impressions  his 
words  had  made. 

It  is  true  that  in  the  same  paper  will  be  found,  under 
the  appropriate  head  "  Refuge  of  Ojypression"  extracts 
from  newspapers  and  letters  from  all  parts  of  the  coun 
try,  denouncing,  execrating  him,  and  calling  upon  the 


GEORGE  THOMPSON'S  FIRST  YEAR  IN  AMERICA.    121 

patriotic  to  put  a  stop  to  his  incendiary  career.  He 
v,  as  a  foreign  intruder,  who  had  come  here  to  "  meddle 
with  a  delicate  matter  about  which  he  could  know  noth 
ing."  He  was  "  a  British  emissary,  sent  to  embroil  the 
Northern  with  the  Southern  States,  and  break  up  our 
glorious  Union."  He  was  "  the  paid  agent  of  the  ene 
mies  of  republican  institutions,  supported  in  our  midst, 
that  he  might  do  all  in  his  power  to  prevent  the  success 
of  the  grandest  experiment  in  national  government  ever 
tried  on  earth."  The  changes  were  rung  on  these  and 
similar  charges  until  those,  who  could  be  deceived  there 
by,  were  maddened  in  their  fear  and  hatred  of  Mr. 
Thompson.  He  was  threatened  with  all  kinds  of  ill- 
treatment  ;  yet  he  went  fearlessly  wherever  he  was  in 
vited  to  speak,  and  not  unfrequently  disarmed  and  con 
verted  some  who  had  come  to  the  meetings  intending 
to  do  him  harm. 

In  several  of  his  lecturing  tours  I  was  his  companion ; 
and  I  wondered  how  any  persons  who  heard  him  speak, 
in  public  or  in  private,  could  suspect  or  be  persuaded 
that  he  was  an  enemy  of  our  country.  I  was  continu 
ally  surprised,  as  well  as  delighted,  by  the  evidences  he 
gave  of  his  just  appreciation  of  the  principles  of  our 
government,  and  the  admiration  of  them  that  he  always 
cordially  expressed.  Having  hitherto  contemplated  our 
Republic  from  a  distance,  he  seemed  to  have  taken  a 
more  comprehensive  view  of  it  than  too  many  of  our 
own  citizens,  even  statesmen,  had  done,  whose  regard  for 
the  whole  nation  had  been  warped  by  their  concern  for 
the  supposed  interests  of  a  section  or  a  State.  Mr. 
Thompson's  detestation  of  slavery  was  intensified  by  his 
clear  perception  of  the  corruption  it  had  diffused  through 
out  our  body  politic  and  body  ecclesiastic ;  and,  if  not 
abolished,  the  ruin  it  would  inevitably  bring  upon  our 
country,  called,  in  the  providence  of  God,  to  be  "  the 


122  RISE  OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

land  of  the  free  and  the  asylum  of  the  oppressed."  No 
American  patriot  ever  felt,  for  no  human  heart  could 
feel,  a  deeper,  more  sincere,  or  more  intelligent  concern 
for  the  honor,  glory,  perpetuity  of  our  Republic  than 
Mr.  Thompson  felt  and  evinced  in  his  every  word  and 
act.  Few  home-born  lovers  of  our  country  have  done  a 
tithe  as  much  as  he  did  to  save  her  from  the  ruin  she 
was  bringing  upon  herself  by  her  recreancy  to  the  fun 
damental  principles,  upon  which  she  professed  to  stand. 
Not  a  dozen  names,  of  those  who  have  lived  within 
the  last  forty  years,  deserve  to  stand  higher  on  the  list 
of  our  public  benefactors  than  the  name  of  George 
Thompson. 

Yet  was  he  maligned,  hated,  hunted,  driven  from  our 
shores.  The  story  of  the  treatment  he  received  is  too 
shameful  to  be  told.  During  the  last  six  months  of  his 
stay  here  the  persecution  of  him  was  continuous.  The 
newspapers,  from  Maine  to  Georgia,  with  a  few  most 
honorable  exceptions,  denounced  him  daily,  and  called 
for  his  punishment  as  an  enemy,  or  his  expulsion  from 
the  country.  Those  few  who  dared  to  tell  the  truth  tes 
tified,  not  only  to  his  enrapturing  eloquence  and  his  friend 
liness  to  our  nation,  but  to  his  eminently  Christian  de 
portment  and  spirit.  But  the  tide  of  persecution  could 
not  be  stayed.  .  He  was  often  insulted  in  the  streets. 
Meetings  to  which  he  spoke,  or  at  which  he  was  expected 
to  speak,  were  broken  up  by  mobs.  Rewards  were  of 
fered  for  his  person  or  his  life.  Twice  I  assisted  to  help 
his  escape  from  the  hands  of  hired  ruffians. 

All  this  he  bore,  for  the  most  part,  with  fortitude  and 
sweet  serenity.  He  seemed  less  apprehensive  of  his  dan 
ger  than  his  friends  were.  Sometimes  he  overawed  the 
men  who  were  sent  to  take  him  by  his  dignified,  heroic 
bearing,  and  at  other  times  dispelled  their  evil  inten 
tions  by  his  pertinent  wit.  I  will  give  a  single  in- 


GEORGE  THOMPSON'S  FIRST  YEAR  IN  AMERICA.   123 

stance.  At  one  of  the  last  meetings  he  addressed  in 
Boston,  some  Southerners  cried  out  :  — 

"  We  wish  we  had  you  at  the  South.  We  would  cut 
your  ears  off,  if  not  your  head." 

Mr.  Thompson  promptly  replied  :  "  Would  you  1  Then 
should  I  cry  out  all  the  louder,  '  He  that  hath  ears  to 
hear  let  him  hear.' "  It  was  irresistible.  I  believe  the 
Southerners  themselves  joined  in  the  rapturous  applause. 

On  the  27th  of  September,  1835,  we  left  Boston  to 
gether  in  a  private  conveyance,  —  he  to  lecture  at  Abing- 
ton,  one  of  the  most  antislavery  towns  in  the  State,  and 
I  at  Halifax,  a  few  miles  beyond.  On  my  return  the 
next  morning  I  learnt  that  there  had  been  a  fearful  on 
slaught  upon  Mr.  Thompson ;  and,  when  I  called  to  take 
him  back  to  the  city,  I  found  him  more  subdued  than  I  had 
ever  seen  him.  He  had  not  expected  ill-usage  there. 
As  we  passed  the  meeting-house,  from  which  he  and  his 
audience  had  been  routed  the  night  before,  he  was  over 
come  by  his  emotions.  There  lay  strewn  upon  the 
ground  fragments  of  windows,  blinds,  and  doors,  and 
some  of  the  heavy  missiles  with  which  they  had  been  bro 
ken  down.  He  fell  back  in  the  chaise,  and  for  several 
minutes  gave  way  to  his  feelings.  When  able  to  com 
mand  himself  he  said  :  — 

"  What  does  it  mean  1  Am  I  indeed  an  enemy  of 
your  country  1  Do  I  deserve  this  at  your  hands  1  Tes 
tify  against  me  if  you  can,  Mr.  May.  You  know,  if  any 
one  does,  what  sentiments  I  have  uttered,  what  spirit  I 
have  evinced.  You  have  been  with  me  in  private  and  in 
public.  Have  you  ever  suspected  me  *?  Have  you  ever 
heard  a  word  from  my  lips  unfriendly  to  your  country, 
—  your  magnificent,  your  might-be-glorious,  but  your 
awfully  guilty  country  1  What  have  I 'said,  what  have  I 
done,  that  I  should  be  treated  as  an  enemy  1  Have  not 
all  my  words  and  all  my  acts  tended  to  the  removal  of 


124  RISE   OF  ABOLITIONISM. 

an  evil  which  is  your  nation's  disgrace,  and,  if  permitted 
to  continue,  must  be  your  ruin  1 " 

We  rode  on  in  silence,  for  he  knew  my  answers  with 
out  hearing  them  from  my  lips.  But  the  outrage  at 
Abington  assured  us  that  the  spirit  of  persecution  was 
rife  in  the  land,  and  might  manifest  itself  anywhere. 

Nevertheless,  Mr.  Thompson  accepted  an  invitation  to 
lecture  a  few  days  afterwards  in  the  afternoon,  by  day 
light,  at  East  Abington.  Accordingly,  on  the  15th  of 
October,  I  went  with  him  to  the  appointed  place.  We 
had  been  credibly  informed  that  a  number  of  men  were 
going  thither  to  take  him,  if  they  could  do  so  without 
harm  to  themselves.  But  the  good  men  and  women  of 
the  town  and  neighborhood  were  up  to  the  occasion. 
The  meeting-house  was  crowded,  so  that,  though  the  evil 
intenders  were  there  in  force,  they  soon  saw  that  the 
capture  could  not  be  made  there.  And  then  the .  wit, 
the  wisdom,  the  pathos,  the  eloquence  of  the  speaker 
disarmed  them,  took  them  captive,  and,  for  the  hour,  at 
least,  made  them  delighted  hearers. 

This  was  Mr.  Thompson's  last  public  appearance  dur 
ing  his  first  year  in  America.  All  his  friends  insisted 
that  he  must  keep  out  of  sight,  and  as  soon  as  practi 
cable  return  to  England.  It  was  well  known  that  his 
life  was  in  danger.  That  we  had  not  attributed  too 
great  malignity  to  our  countrymen  —  even  to  the  citi 
zens  of  Boston  —  was  soon  made  apparent  by  their  own 
acts. 

It  was  announced  in  the  Liberator,  and  so  became 
publicly  known,  that  a  regular  meeting  of  the  "  Boston 
Female  Antislavery  Society  "  would  be  held  in  the  Hall, 
46  Washington  Street,  on  the  21st  of  October,  1835. 
Without  authority,  it  was  reported  by  other  papers  that 
Mr.  Thompson  was  to  address  them ;  and  it  was  more 
than  intimated  that  then  and  there  would  be  the  time 


GEORGE  THOMPSON'S  FIRST  YEAR  IN  AMERICA.    125 

and  place  to  seize  him.  On  the  morning  of  that  day 
the  following  placard  was  posted  in  all  parts  of  the 
city  :  — 

"THOMPSON  THE  ABOLITIONIST. 

"  That  infamous  foreign  scoundrel,  Thompson,  will  hold 
forth  this  afternoon  at  46  Washington  Street.  The  present 
is  a  fair  opportunity  for  the  friends  of  the  Union  to  snake 
Thompson  out!  It  will  be  a  contest  between  the  Abolition 
ists  and  the  friends  of  the  Union.  A  purse  of  one  hundred 
dollars  has  been  raised  by  a  number  of  patriotic  citizens,  to 
reward  the  individual  who  shall  first  lay  violent  hands  on 
Thompson,  so  that  he  may  be  brought  to  the  Tar  Kettle  be 
fore  dark.  Friends  of  the  Union,  be  vigilant  1  " 

The  sequel  of  the  infamous  proceedings  thus  inaugu 
rated  will  be  given  hereafter.  Mr.  Thompson  was  not 
there,  and  so  the  mob  vented  itself  upon  another.  Mr. 
Thompson  was,  and  had  been  for  several  days,  secreted 
by  his  friends  in  Boston,  and  afterwards  in  Brookline, 
Lynn,  Salem,  Phillips  Beach,  and  elsewhere,  until  his 
enemies  were  baffled  in  their  pursuit  of  him,  and 
arrangements  were  made  to  take  him  safely  out  of  the 
country. 

On  or  about  the  20th  of  November  he  was  conveyed 
in  a  small  boat,  rowed  by  two  of  his  friends,  from  one 
of  the  Boston  wharves  to  a  small  English  brig,  that  had 
fortunately  been  consigned  to  Henry  G.  Chapman,  one 
of  our  earliest  and  best  antislavery  brothers;  and  in 
that  vessel  he  was  carried  to  St.  Johns.  From  that  port 
he  sailed  for  England  on  the  28th  of  the  same  month. 
Would  that  all  my  countrymen  could  read  the  letter 
that  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Garrison  on  the  eve  of  his  depart 
ure.  If  words  can  truly  express  a  man's  thoughts  and 
feelings,  the  words  of  that  letter  were  written  by  a  lover 
of  our  country,  a  true  philanthropist,  a  Christian  hero. 


ASTTISLAVEKY  CONFLICT. 


THERE  were  many  noble  confessors  of  the  antislavery 
gospel,  and  many  self-sacrificing  sufferers  in  the  cause, 
in  various  parts  of  our  country,  to  whom  I  should  be 
doing  great  injustice  not  to  speak  particularly  of  their 
services,  if  I  were  writing  a  complete  history  of  our  pro 
tracted  conflict  for  impartial  liberty.  But  I  must  con 
fine  myself,  for  the  most  part,  to  my  personal  recollec 
tions  of  prominent  events  and  the  individuals  who  were 
most  conspicuous  within  my  own  limited  view. 
.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  a  complete  history  of  this  sec 
ond  American  Revolution  will,  erelong,  be  written  by 
Mr.  Garrison,  the  man  of  all  others  best  qualified  to 
write  it,  —  except  that  he  will  not  give  that  prominence 
to  himself  in  his  narrative  which  he  took  in  the  begin 
ning  and  occupied  until  emancipation  was  proclaimed 
for  all  in  bondage  throughout  our  borders.  He  has  been 
the  coryphaeus  of  our  antislavery  band.  He  uttered 
the  first  note  that  thrilled  the  heart  of  the  nation.  He, 
more  than  any  one,  has  corrected  the  national  discord. 
And  he  has  led  the  grand  symphony  in  which  so  many 
millions  of  our  countrymen  at  last  have  gladly,  exult- 
ingly  joined. 

But  so  many  have,  at  different  periods  and  in  various 
ways,  contributed  to  the  glorious  result  that  it  will  not 
be  possible  even  for  Mr.  Garrison  to  do  ample  justice  to 
ull  his  fellow-laborers.  Indeed,  many  of  them  cannot  be 
known  to  him,  or  to  any  one  but  the  Omniscient.  As 


THE  REIGN  OP  TERROR.  127 

in  every  other  war,  the  fate  of  many  a  battle  was  de 
cided  by  the  indomitable  will  and  heroic  self-sacrifice  of 
some  nameless  private  soldier,  who  happened  to  be  at 
the  point  of  imminent  peril,  so,  no  doubt,  has  a  favor 
able  turn  sometimes  been  given  to  our  great  enterprise 
by  the  undaunted  moral  courage  and  persistent  fidelity 
of  one  and  another,  who  are  unknown  but  to  Him  who 
seeth  in  secret. 

In  my  last  article  I  gave  an  account  of  the  bitter 
persecution  of  Mr.  Thompson.  The  fact  that  he  was  a 
foreigner  was  used  with  great  effect  to  exasperate  tho 
mobocratic  spirit  against  him ;  but  the  real  gist  of  his 
offence  was  the  same  that  every  one  was  guilty  of,  who 
insisted  upon  the  abolition  of  slavery. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Antislavery 
Society  in  May,  1835,  I  was  sitting  upon  the  platform 
of  the  Houston  Street  Presbyterian  Church  in  New 
York,  when  I  was  surprised  to  see  a  gentleman  enter 
and  take  his  seat  who,  I  knew,  was  a  partner  in  one  of 
the  most  prominent  mercantile  houses  in  the  city.  He 
had  not  been  seated  long  before  he  beckoned  me  to 
meet  him  at  the  door.  I  did  so.  "  Please  walk  out 
with  me,  sir,"  said  he ;  "I  have  something  of  great  im 
portance  to  communicate."  When  we  had  reached  the 
sidewalk  he  said,  with  considerable  emotion  and  empha 
sis,  "  Mr.  May,  we  are  not  such  fools  as  not  to  know  that 
slavery  is  a  great  evil,  a  great  wrong.  But  it  was 
consented  to  by  the  founders  of  our  Republic.  It  was 
provided  for  in  the  Constitution  of  our  Union.  A  great 
portion  of  the  property  of  the  Southerners  is  invested 
under  its  sanction ;  and  the  business  of  the  North,  as 
well  as  the  South,  has  become  adjusted  to  it.  There  are 
millions  upon  millions  of  dollars  due  from  Southerners 
to  the  merchants  and  mechanics  of  this  city  alone,  the 
payment  of  which  would  be  jeopardized  by  any  rupture 


128  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

between  the  North  and  the  South.  We  cannot  afford, 
sir,  to  let  you  and  your  associates  succeed  in  your  en 
deavor  to  overthrow  slavery.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  prin 
ciple  with  us.  It  is  a  matter  of  business  necessity. 
We  cannot  afford  to  let  you  succeed.  And  I  have  called 
you  out  to  let  you  know,  and  to  let  your  fellow-laborers 
know,  that  we  do  not  mean  to  allow  you  to  succeed. 
We  mean,  sir,"  said  he,  with  increased  emphasis,  —  "  wo 
mean,  sir,  to  put  you  Abolitionists  down,  —  by  fair  means 
if  we  can,  by  foul  means  if  we  must." 

After  a  minute's  pause  I  replied  :  "  Then,  sir,  the 
gain  of  gold  must  be  better  than  that  of  godliness.  Er 
ror  must  be  mightier  than  truth ;  wrong  stronger  than 
right.  The  Devil  must  preside  over  the  affairs  of  the 
universe,  and  not  God.  Now,  sir,  I  believe  neither  of 
these  propositions.  If  holding  men  in  slavery  be  wrong, 
it  will  be  abolished.  We  shall  succeed,  your  pecuniary 
interests  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding."  He  tunied 
hastily  away ;  but  he  has  lived  long  enough  to  find  that 
he  was  mistaken,  and  to  rejoice  in  the  abolition  of  slav 
ery. 

We  were  soon  made  to  realize  that  the  words  of  the 
New  York  merchant  were  not  an  unmeaning  threat.  He 
had  not  spoken  for  himself,  or  any  number  of  the  mov 
ing  spirits  of  that  commercial  metropolis  alone.  He  was 
warranted  in  saying  what  he  did  by  the  pretty  general 
intention  of  the  "  gentlemen  of  property  and  standing  " 
throughout  the  country  to  put  a  stop  to  the  antislavery 
reform.  The  storm-clouds  of  persecution  had  gathered 
heavily  upon  our  Southern  horizon.  Fiery  flashes  of 
wrath  had  often  darted  thence  towards  us.  But  we  were 
slow  to  believe  that  our  Northern  sky  would  ever  become 
so  surcharged  with  hatred  for  those,  who  were  only  con 
tending  for  "the  inalienable  rights  of  man,"  as  to  break 
upon  us  in  any  serious  harm.  The  summer  and  fall  of 


THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR  129 

1835  dispelled  our  misplaced  confidence  We  found,  to 
our  shame  and  dismay,  that  even  New  England  had 
leagued  with  the  slaveholding  oligarchy  to  quench  the 
spirit  of  impartial  liberty,  and  uphold  in  our  country 
the  most  cruel  system  of  domestic  servitude  the  world 
has  ever  known.  The  denunciations  of  the  South  were 
reverberated  throughout  the  North.  The  public  ear  was 
filled  with  most  wanton,  cruel  misrepresentations  of  our 
sentiments  and  purposes,  and  closed,  as  far  as  possible, 
against  all  our  replies  in  contradiction,  explanation,  or 
defence.  The  political  newspapers,  with  scarcely  an  ex 
ception,  teemed  with  false  accusations,  the  grossest  abuse, 
and  the  most  alarming  predictions  of  the  ultimate  effects 
of  our  measures.  The  religious  papers  and  periodicals 
were  no  better.  The  churches  in  Boston,  not  less  than 
elsewhere,  were  closed  against  us.  Not  a  minister  *  — 
excepting  Dr.  Channing,  and  the  one  in  Pine  Street 
Church  —  would  even  venture  to  read  a  notice  of  an  anti- 
slavery  meeting.  Dr.  Henry  Ware,  Jr.,  was  denounced 
and  vilified  for  having  done  so  from  Dr.  Channing's 
pulpit.  All  the  public  halls,  too,  of  any  tolerable  size, 
were  one  after  the  other  refused  us.  Even  Faneuil  Hall, 
the  so-called  cradle  of  American  liberty,  was  denied  to 
our  use,  though  asked  for  in  a  respectful  petition  signed 
by  the  names  of  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  gentlemen 
of  Boston,  whose  characters  were  as  irreproachable  as 
any  in  the  city.  But  a  few  weeks  afterwards,  on  the 
21st  of  August,  at  the  request  of  fifteen  hundred  of 
the  "  gentlemen  of  property  and  standing,"  that  hall,  in 
which  had  been  cradled  the  independence  of  the  United 
States,  was  turned  into  the  Refuge  of  Slavery.  There 
as  large  a  multitude  as  could  crowd  within  its  spacious 
walls,  with  feelings  of  alarm  for  the  safety  of  our  country, 

*  Rev.  Mr.  Pierpont,  who  afterwards  did  good  service,  was  absent  in 
Europe  during  1835. 


130  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

and  of  indignation  at  the  Abolitionists  as  disturbers  of 
the  peace,  already  excited  by  the  grossest  misrepresenta 
tions  of  our  sentiments,  purposes,  and  acts,  industrious 
ly  disseminated  by  newspapers  and  in  reports  of  public 
speeches  throughout  the  Southern  States,  —  there,  in  Fan- 
euil  Hall,  thousands  of  our  fellow-citizens  were  infuriated 
yet  more  against  us  by  harangues  from  no  less  distin 
guished  civilians  than  the  Hon.  Harrison  Gray  Otis, 
Peleg  Sprague,  and  Richard  Fletcher.  These  gentlemen 
reiterated  all  the  common  unproved  charges  against  us, 
and  solemnly,  eloquently,  passionately  argued  and  urged 
that  the  enslavement  of  millions  of  the  people  in  our 
country  was  a  matter  with  which  we  of  the  Northern 
States  had  no  right  to  meddle.  It  was  a  concern,  they 
insisted,  of  the  Southern  States  alone,  found  there  when 
these  portions  of  our  Republic  were  about  to  emerge 
from  their  colonial  dependence  upon  Great  Britain,  and 
left  there  by  the  framers  of  the  Constitution,  which  was 
meant  to  be  the  fundamental  law  of  our  glorious  Union. 
They  harped  upon  the  guaranties  given  to  the  slavehold 
ers,  that  they  should  be  sustained  and  undisturbed  in 
enforcing  their  claim  of  property  in  the  persons  and  ser 
vices  of  their  laborers.  And  those  gentlemen  insisted 
that  the  endeavors  of  Abolitionists  to  convince  their  fel 
low-citizens  of  the  heinous  wickedness  of  holding  human 
beings  in  slavery  gave  just  oifence  to  those  who  were 
guilty  of  the  sin ;  violated  the  compact  by  which  these 
United  States  were  held  together,  and,  if  they  were  per 
mitted  to  be  prosecuted,  would  cause  the  dissolution  of 
the  Union. 

Meetings  of  a  similar  character,  in  the  same  or  a  more 
violent  spirit  of  denunciation,  were  held  in  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  most  of  the  cities  of  the 
nation.  What  were  the  immediate  effects  of  this  general 
outcry  against  us  I  shall  narrate  as  briefly  as  I  may. 


THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR.  131 


REIGN  OF  TERROR. 

The  nearly  simultaneous  uprising  of  the  proslavcry 
hosts  in  1835,  and  the  almost  universal  outbreak  of 
violence  upon  our  antislavery  heads  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  from  Louisiana  to  Maine,  showed  plainly 
enough  that  Mr.  Garrison's  demand  for  the  immediate 
emancipation  of  the  enslaved  had  entered  into  the  ear 
of  the  whole  nation.  All  the  people  had  heard  it,  or 
heard  of  it.  It  had  received  a  heartfelt  response  from 
not  a  few  of  the  purest  and  best  men  and  women  in  the 
land.  This  was  manifest  at  the  Convention  in  Philadel 
phia,  in  December,  1833,  where  were  delegates  from  ten 
of  the  States  of  our  Union,  all  of  whom  seemed  ready  to 
do,  to  dare,  and  to  suffer  whatever  the  cause  of  the  op 
pressed  millions  might  require.  It  waked  at  once  the 
lyre  of  our  Whittier,  which  has  never  slumbered  since, 
and  inspired  him  to  utter  those  thrilling  strains  which 
all  but  tyrants  and  their  minions  love  to  hear.  It  drew 
from  Elizur  Wright,  Jr.,  Professor  in  Western  Reserve 
College,  Ohio,  in  1833,  a  thorough  searching  pamphlet 
on  "  the  sin  of  slavery."  It  called  out  from  Hon.  Judge 
William  Jay,  of  New  York,  that  "  Inquiry,"  which 
brought  so  many  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Colonization 
plan  tended,  if  it  were  not  intended,  to  perpetuate  slavery, 
and  satisfied  them  that  "the  class  of  Americans  called 
Africans  "  (to  use  the  pregnant  title  of  Mrs.  Child's  im 
pressive  Appeal)  had  as  much  right  to  live  in  this  coun 
try  and  enjoy  liberty  here  as  any  other  Americans.  Mr. 
Garrison's  word  gave  rise  to  that  memorable  discussion 
in  Lane  Seminary,  of  which  I  have  heretofore  given 
some  account,  and  which  resulted  in  the  departure,  from 
that  narrow  enclosure,  of  eighty  preachers  of  the  doctrine 
of  "  immediate  emancipation,"  to  repeat  and  urge  their 


132  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

deep  convictions  upon  the  willing  and  the  unwilling  in 
almost  every  part  of  the  land,  which  sent  out  Theodore 
D.  Weld  and  Henry  B.  Stantou  and  James  A.  Thome, 
sons  of  thunder,  whose  voices  reverberated  throughout 
our  Middle,  Western,  and  Southern  States.  Mr.  Garrison's 
word  came  to  the  ears,  and  at  once  found  its  way  to  the 
hearts,  of  those  admirable  ladies  in  South  Carolina,  Sarah 
and  Angelina  Grimke,  who  erelong  came  to  the  North, 
and  bore  their  emphatic,  eloquent,  thrilling  testimony  to 
the  intrinsic,  all-pervading  sinfulness  of  that  system  of 
domestic  servitude  to  which  they  had  been  accustomed 
from  their  birth.  And,  more  than  all,  his  word  had 
reached  that  high-souled,  brave,  courteous  civilian,  phi 
lanthropist,  and  Christian  in  Alabama,  Hon.  James  G. 
Birney,  who,  as  I  shall  hereafter  relate,  having  for  several 
years  devoted  his  time,  his  personal  influence,  and  per 
suasive  eloquence  to  the  Colonization  cause,  when  he 
came  to  see  its  essential  injustice  and  proslavery  ten 
dency,  earnestly  renounced  his  error.  He  forthwith 
emancipated  his  slaves,  paid  them  fairly  for  their  ser 
vices,  did  all  he  could  for  their  improvement,  and  thence 
forward  consecrated  himself,  through  much  evil  report 
and  bitter  persecution,  to  the  dissemination  of  the  senti 
ments  and  the  accomplishment  of  the  great  object  of  the 
American  Antislavery  Society.  Immediately  after  his 
conversion  he  wrote  and  published  two  letters  addressed 
to  the  American  Presbyterians,  of  whose  body  he  had 
been  a  highly  esteemed  member.  In  those  letters  he 
set  forth  most  clearly  the  sinfulness  of  slaveholding,  and 
implored  his  brethren  to  turn  from  it,  and  rid  themselves 
wholly  of  the  awful  guilt  of  holding,  or  allowing  others 
to  hold,  human  beings  as  their  chattels  personal,  and 
treating  them  as  domesticated  brutes. 

These  and  other  instances  might  be  adduced  to  show 
how  far  and  widely  the  antislavery  doctrines  had  been 


WALKER'S  APPEAL.  133 

made  known  at  the  time  of  which  I  am  writing.  But, 
alas !  there  were  a  great  many  different  and  very  disagree 
able  evidences  that  the  truth,  which  alone  could  make  our 
nation  free,  had  been  heard,  or  heard  of,  everywhere. 

WALKER'S    APPEAL. 

It  should  be  stated,  however,  that  the  excitement 
which  had  become  so  general  and  so  furious  against  the 
Abolitionists  throughout  the  slaveholding  States  was 
owing  in  no  small  measure  to  an  individual  with  whom 
Mr.  Garrison  and  his  associates  had  had  no  connection. 
David  Walker,  a  very  intelligent  colored  man  of  Boston, 
having  travelled  pretty  extensively  over  the  United 
States,  and  informed  himself  thoroughly  of  the  condition 
of  the  colored  population,  bond  and  free,  had  become  so 
exasperated  that  he  set  himself  to  the  work  of  rousing 
his  fellow-sufferers  to  a  due  sense  of  "  their  degraded, 
wretched,  abject  condition,"  and  preparing  them  for  a 
general  and  organized  insurrection.  In  the  course  of  the 
year  1828  Mr.  Walker  gathered  about  him,  in  Boston  and 
elsewhere,  audiences  of  colored  men,  into  whom  he  strove 
to  infuse  his  spirit  of  determined,  self-sacrificing  rebellion 
against  their  too-long  endured  and  unparalleled  oppres 
sion.  Little  was  known  of  these  meetings,  excepting  by 
those  who  had  been  specially  called  to  them.  But  in 
September,  1829,  he  published  his  "  Appeal  to  the  colored 
citizens  of  the  world,  in  particular  and  very  expressly  to  those 
of  the  United  States" 

It  was  a  pamphlet  of  more  than  eighty  octavo  pages, 
ably  written,  very  impassioned  and  well  adapted  to  its 
purpose.  The  second  and  third  editions  of  it  were  pub 
lished  in  less  than  twelve  months.  And  Mr.  Walker  de 
voted  himself  until  his  death,  which  happened  soon  after, 
to  the  distribution  of  copies  of  this  Appeal  to  colored 


134:  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

men  who  were  able  to  read  it  in  every  State  of  the 
Union. 

Just  as  I  had  written  the  above  sentence,  Dr.  W.  H. 
Irwin,  of  Louisiana,  came  in  with  an  introduction  to  me. 
He  is  one  of  many  Union  men  who  have  been  stripped 
of  their  property  and  driven  out  of  the  State  by  Presi 
dent  Johnson's  and  Mayor  Monroe's  partisans.  Learning 
that  he  had  been  a  resident  many  years  in  the  Southern 
States,  I  inquired  if  he  saw  or  heard  of  Walker's  Appeal 
in  the  time  of  it.  He  replied  that  he  was  living  in 
Georgia  in  1834,  was  acquainted  with  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Worcester  and  Butler,  missionaries  to  the  Cherokees, 
and  knew  that  they  were  maltreated  and  imprisoned  in 
1829  or  1830  for  having  one  of  Walker's  pamphlets,  as 
well  as  for  admitting  some  colored  children  into  their 
Indian  school. 

So  soon  as  this  attempt  to  excite  the  slaves  to  insur 
rection  came  to  the  knowledge  of  Mr.  Garrison,  he  ear 
nestly  deprecated  it  in  his  lectures,  especially  those 
addressed  to  colored  people.  And  in  his  first  number 
of  the  Liberator  he  repudiated  the  resort  to  violence,  as 
wrong  in  principle  and  disastrous  in  policy.  His  opinions 
on  this  point  were  generally  embraced  by  his  followers, 
and  explicitly  declared  by  the  American  Antislavery  So 
ciety  in  1833. 

But  as  we  wished  that  our  fellow-citizens  South  as  well 
as  North  should  be  assured  of  our  pacific  principles,  and 
as  we  hoped  to  abolish  the  institution  of  slavery  by  con 
vincing  slaveholders  and  their  abettors  of  the  exceeding 
wickedness  of  the  system,  we  did  send  our  reports,  tracts, 
and  papers  to  all  white  persons  in  the  Southern  States 
with  whom  we  were  any  of  us  acquainted,  and  to  dis 
tinguished  individuals  whom  we  knew  by  common  fame, 
to  ministers  of  religion,  legislators,  civilians,  and  editors. 
But  in  no  case  did  we  send  our  publications  to  slaves.  This 


AMERICAN  APOLOGISTS.  135 

we  forbore  to  do,  because  we  knew  that  few  of  them 
could  read ;  because  our  arguments  and  appeals  were 
not  addressed  to  them  ;  and  especially  because  we 
thought  it  probable  that,  if  our  publications  should  be 
found  in  their  possession,  they  would  be  subjected  to 
some  harsher  treatment. 

Notwithstanding  our  precaution,  the  Southern  "gen 
tlemen  of  property  and  standing "  denounced  us  as  in 
cendiaries,  enemies,  accused  us  of  intending  to  excite 
their  bondmen  to  insurrection,  and  to  dissolve  the  Union. 
They  would  not  themselves  give  any  heed  to  our  expose 
of  the  sin  and  danger  of  slavery,  nor  would  they  suffer 
others  so  to  do  who  seemed  inclined  to  hear  and  con 
sider.  They  assaulted,  lynched,  imprisoned  any  one  in 
whose  possession  they  found  anti slavery  publications. 
They  waylaid  the  mails,  or  broke  into  post-offices,  and 
tore  to  pieces  or  burnt  up  all  papers  and  pamphlets 
from  the  North  that  contained  aught  against  their  "  pe 
culiar  institution,"  and  significantly  admonished,  if  they 
did  not  summarily  punish,  those  to  whom  such  publica 
tions  were  addressed.  Meetings  were  called  in  most,  if 
not  all,  of  the  principal  cities  of  the  South,  at  which 
Abolitionists  were  denounced  in  unmeasured  terms,  and 
the  friends  of  the  Union,  North  and  South,  and  East  and 
West,  were  peremptorily  summoned  to  suppress  them. 
By  the  votes  of  such  meetings,  and  still  more  by  the  acts 
of  the  Legislatures  of  several  States,  large  rewards  — 
$5,000,  $10,000,  $20,000— were  offered  for  the  abduc 
tion  or  assassination  of  Arthur  Tappan,  William  Lloyd 
Garrison,  Amos  A.  Phelps,  and  other  prominent  antislav- 
ery  men.  Moreover,  letters  of  the  most  abusive  charac 
ter  were  sent  to  us  individually,  threatening  us  with  all 
sorts  of  violence,  arson,  and  murder. 

Sad  to  relate,  the  corrupting,  demoralizing  influence 
of  slavery  was  not  confined  to  those  who  were  directly 


136  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

enforcing  the  great  wrong  upon  their  fellow-beings. 
Those  who  had  consented  to  such  desecration  of  human 
ity  were  found  to  be  almost  as  much  contaminated  as 
the  slaveholders  themselves.  "  The  whole  head  of  the 
nation  was  sick,  and  the  whole  heart  was  faint."  The 
"gentlemen  of  property  and  standing"  at  the  North, 
yes,  even  in  Massachusetts,  espoused  the  cause  of  the 
slaveholders.  The  editors  of  most  of  the  newspapers,  re 
ligious  as  well  as  secular,  and  of  some  of  the  graver  peri 
odicals,  nearly  all  of  the  popular  orators,  and  very  many 
of  the  ministers  of  religion,  spoke  and  wrote  against  the 
doctrine  of  the  Abolitionists.  They  extenuated  the  crime 
of  denying  to  fellow  men  the  God-given,  inalienable  rights 
of  humanity,  apologized  for  those  who  had  been  born  to 
an  inheritance  of  slaves,  and  insisted  that  "  slavery  was 
an  ordination  of  Providence,*  sanctioned  by  our  sacred 
Scriptures,  even  the  Christian  Scriptures."  This  last 
was  the  chief  weapon  with  which  the  religionists  through 
out  the  Northern  as  well  as  Southern  States  combated 
the  Abolitionists.  Not  a  few  sermons  were  preached  in 
various  parts  of  New  England,  as  well  as  New  York  and 
other  Middle  States,  in  justification  of  slaveholding. 
The  professors  of  Princeton  Theological  School  pub 
lished  a  pamphlet  in  defence  of  slavery,  and  Professor 
Stuart,  of  Andover,  the  great  leader  of  New  England 
orthodoxy,  gave  the  abomination  his  sanction.  The 
record  of  our  Cambridge  Divinity  School  is  much  more 
honorable.  Dr.  Henry  Ware,  Jr.,  evinced  a  deep  inter 
est  in  our  enterprise,  and  incurred  some  censure  for 
manifesting  his  interest.  Dr.  Follen  identified  himself 
with  us  at  an  early  day,  and,  as  I  shall  tell  hereafter, 
was  one  of  the  sufferers  in  the  cause  ;  and  Dr.  Palfrey, 
though  at  the  time  of  which  I  am  writing  rather  private 
ly,  expressed  an  appreciation  of  our  principles,  which  a 
few  years  afterwards  impelled  him  to  pecuniary  sacrifice 


SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  TRUTH.       137 

and  a  course  of  conduct  in  Congress  which  deservedly 
placed  him  high  on  the  list  of  the  antislavery  worthies.* 
All  the  large,  influential  ecclesiastical  bodies  in  our  coun 
try —  the  Presbyterian,  the  Episcopal,  the  Methodist, 
the  Baptist  —  threw  over  the  churches  of  their  sects 
throughout  the  Southern  States  the  shield  of  their  con 
sent  to,  if  not  their  approval  of,  slaveholding ;  and,  I 
grieve  to  add,  the  American  Unitarian  Association  could 
not  be  induced  to  pronounce  its  condemnation  of  the 
tremendous  sin,  the  sum  of  all  iniquities. 

Most  religionists  of  every  name,  our  own  not  excepted, 
insisted  that  slavery  was  a  political  institution,  with 
which,  as  Christians,  it  would  be  inexpedient  for  us  to 
meddle ;  and  the  politicians  and  merchants  did  all  in 
their  power  to  disseminate  this  view  of  the  matter,  and 
close  the  doors  of  the  churches  and  the  lips  of  the  min 
isters  against  this  "  exciting  subject."  I  need  not  add 
they  were  too  successful. 

Most  of  the  prominent  statesmen,  and  all  the  politi 
cal  demagogues  of  both  parties,  took  the  ground  that 
the  great  question  as  to  the  enslavement  of  the  colored 
population  of  the  South  was  settled  by  the  framers  of 
the  Constitution  ;  that  it  was  a  matter  to  be  left  exclu 
sively  to  the  States  in  which  slavery  existed ;  that  to 
meddle  with  it  was  to  violate  the  provisions  of  the  fun 
damental  law  of  the  land  and  loosen  the  bands  of  the 
Union.  Therefore  the  Abolitionists  were  to  be  regarded 
as  disturbers  of  the  public  peace,  incendiaries,  enemies 
of  their  country,  traitors.  And  it  was  proclaimed  by 
many  in  high  authority,  and  shouted  everywhere  by  the 
baser  sort,  "that  the  Abolitionists  ought  to  be  abol 
ished,"  by  any  means  that  should  be  found  necessary. 
Thus  outlawed,  given  up  to  the  fury  of  the  populace,  we 
were  subjected  to  abuses  and  outrages,  of  which  I  can 
give  only  a  brief  account. 

*  See  Appendix. 


138  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

We  were  slow  to  believe  that  our  fellow-citizens  of 
the  New  England  States  could  be  so  besotted  by  the  in 
fluence  of  the  institution  of  slavery,  that  they  would 
outrage  our  persons  in  its  defence.  We  had  had  proofs 
enough  that  "  the  gentlemen  of  property  and  standing," 
"the  wise  and  prudent,"  with  their  dependants,  had 
shut  their  ears  against  the  truth,  and  turned  away  their 
eyes  from  the  grievous  wrongs  we  were  imploring  our 
country  to  redress.  This  treatment  we  had  experienced, 
with  increasing  frequency,  ever  since  the  formation  of 
the  American  Antislavery  Society,  in  December,  1833. 
But  we  were  unwilling  to  apprehend  anything  worse, 
certainly  in  Massachusetts.  We  trusted  that  our  per 
sons  would  be  sacred,  though  we  had  learned  that  the 
liberty  of  speech  and  of  the  press  was  not. 

Late  in  the  fall  of  1833  I  delivered,  in  Boylston  Hall, 
at  the  request  of  the  New  England  Antislavery  Society, 
a  discourse  "  On  the  Principles  and  Purposes  of  the 
Abolitionists,  and  the  Means  by  which  they  intended  to 
subvert  the  Institution  of  Slavery."  The  audience  was 
large,  and  among  my  hearers  I  was  delighted  to  see  my 
good  friend  (afterwards  Dr.)  F.  W.  P.  Greenwood,  then 
one  of  the  editors  of  the  Christian  Examiner.  He  re 
mained  after  the  meeting  was  over,  and  to  my  great  joy 
said  to  me,  "  I  have  liked  your  discourse  much.  I  wish 
everybody  who  is  opposed  to  the  antislavery  reform 
could  hear  or  read  it.  If  you  will  prepare  it  as  an  arti 
cle  for  the  Examiner,  I  will  publish  it  there."  Glad  of 
this  avenue  to  the  minds  and  hearts  of  so  many  who  I 
especially  wished  should  understand  and  appreciate  the 
work  to  which  I  had  wholly  committed  myself,  I  set 
about  converting  my  discourse  into  a  review  of  our  best 
antislavery  publications,  and  making  it,  as  a  literary  pro 
duction,  more  worthy  of  a  place  in  the  chief  periodical 
of  our  denomination.  It  was  too  late  for  the  January 


SUPPRESSION   OF   THE  TRUTH.  139 

number,  1834,  so  I  aimed  to  have  it  in  readiness  for  the 
March  number.  In  due  time  I  called  at  the  office  and 
inquired  how  soon  my  manuscript  would  be  wanted. 
The  publisher  asked  what  was  the  subject  of  my  article  ; 
and  on  learning  that  it  was  to  be  an  explanation  of  the 
sentiments  and  purposes  of  the  Abolitionists,  he  said,  to 
my  astonishment,  with  much  emphasis,  "  We  do  not 
want  it ;  it  cannot  be  published."  "  Why,"  I  said,  "  is 
not  Mr.  Greenwood  one  of  the  editors,  and  do  not  he 
and  his  colleague  decide  what  shall  be  put  into  the  Ex 
aminer  ?  "  "  Generally  they  do,"  he  replied  ;  "  indeed,  I 
never  interfered  before.  But  in  this  case  I  must  and 
shall.  The  Examiner  is  my  property.  It  would  be  seri 
ously  damaged  if  an  article  favoring  Abolition  should 
appear  in  it.  I  should  lose  most  of  my  subscribers  in 
the  slave,  and  many  in  the  free  States.  And  I  cannot 
afford  to  make  such  a  sacrifice."  But  I  rejoined,  "  Mr. 
Greenwood  has  heard  all  the  essential  parts  of  the  arti 
cle.  He  approved  of  it,  thought  it  would  do  good,  and  re 
quested  me  to  prepare  it  for  publication."  Mr.  B.  replied, 
with  more  earnestness  than  before,  "  Mr.  May,  it  shall 
not  be  published.  If  I  should  find  it  all  printed  on  the 
pages  of  the  Examiner,  just  ready  to  be  issued,  I  would 
suppress  the  number  and  publish  another,  with  some 
other  article  in  the  place  of  yours." 

I  hastened  to  Mr.  Greenwood  for  redress.  With  evi 
dent  mortification  and  sorrow  he  confessed  his  inability 
to  do  me  justice.  Nevertheless,  in  the  July  number, 
1834,  there  was  allowed  to  be  published,  on  the  397th 
page,  a  paragraph,  written  by  one  of  the  Boston  minis 
ters,  "for  the  special  instruction  of  such  ardent,  but 
mistaken  philanthropists  among  us  as  think  they  are 
justified,  from  their  abhorrence  of  slavery,  and  their 
zeal  for  universal  emancipation,  to  interfere  with  the 
constitutions  of  civil  governments,  or  the  personal  rights 
of  individuals." 


140  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

Having  permitted  such  an  assault  to  be  made  upon 
us  in  their  pages,  I  could  not  doubt  that  the  editors  of 
the  Examiner  would  suffer  me  to  be  heard  in  defence. 
I  therefore  prepared  carefully  a  respectful  "letter"  to 
them,  trusting  it  would  appear  in  their  next  number. 
But,  to  my  surprise  and  serious  displeasure,  it  was  ex 
cluded.  The  letter  was  accordingly  published  in  the 
Liberator,  which,  here  let  me  say  to  its  distinctive 
honor,  always  allowed  the  foes  as  well  as  the  friends  of 
freedom  and  humanity  a  place  in  its  columns.  And  the 
editors  of  the  Examiner,  unsolicited,  did  me  the  favor, 
in  their  November  number,  1834,  page  282,  to  refer  to 
my  letter,  commending  its  "  eloquence  and  its  good 
spirit,  although  circumstances  obliged  them  to  decline 
publishing  it,  and  advising  their  readers  to  procure  it 
and  read  it,  and  the  documents  to  which  it  refers." 
This  evinced  the  willingness  of  those  gentlemen  to  deal 
fairly,  but  showed  that  they  were  in  bondage. 

Immediately  after  the  first  New  England  Antislavery 
Convention,  which  closed  on  the  29th  of  May,  1834,  I 
devoted  four  or  five  weeks  to  lecturing  on  the  Abolition 
of  Slavery  in  most  of  the  principal  towns  between  Bos 
ton  and  Portland.  In  several  places  there  were  strong 
expressions  of  hostility  to  our  undertaking.  But  nothing 
like  personal  violence  was  offered  me.  I  stopped  over 
Sunday,  8th  of  June,  at  Portsmouth,  to  supply  brother  A. 
P.  Peabody's  pulpit,  that  he  might  preach  in  a  neighbor 
ing  town.  I  consented  to  do  this,  on  the  condition  that 
I  might  deliver  an  antislavery  lecture  from  his  pulpit  on 
Sunday  evening.  This  he  gladly  agreed  to,  and  took 
pains  to  publish  my  intention.  But,  greatly  to  my  sur 
prise,  after  the  forenoon  service,  the  Trustees  of  the 
church  waited  upon  me,  and  informed  me  that,  at  the 
earnest  demand  of  many  prominent  members,  I  should 
not  be  allowed  to  speak  on  slavery  from  their  pulpit ; 


IGNORANCE   OF  THE   CONSTITUTION.  141 

that  the  meeting-house  would  not  be  opened  that  evening. 
My  remonstrance  with  them  was  of  no  avail.  So  at  the 
close  of  my  aftemoon  services  I  said  to  the  congregation  : 
"  You  are  all  doubtless  aware  that  I  had  arranged  with 
your  excellent  pastor  to  deliver  a  lecture  on  American 
slavery  from  this  desk  this  evening.  But  during  the 
intermission  your  Trustees  called  and  peremptorily  for 
bade  my  doing  so.  Has  our  consenting  with  the  oppres 
sors  of  the  poor  indeed  brought  us  to  this  ]  That  I,  who 
am  striving  to  be  a  minister  of  Him  "  who  came  to  break 
every  yoke  "  am  forbidden  to  plead  with  you  who  are 
reputed  to  be  an  eminently  Christian  church  the  cause 
of  millions  of  our  countrymen  who  are  suffering  the 
most  abject  bondage  ever  enforced  upon  human  beings'? 
I  know  not,  I  do  not  wish  to  know,  who  those  prominent 
members  of  your  church  are  that  have  presumed  to 
close  this  pulpit,  and  deny  to  others  the  right  to  mani 
fest  their  sympathy  for  the  down-trodden,  and  to  hear 
what  may  and  should  be  done  for  their  relief.  The  time 
shall  come  when  those  prominent  ones  will  be  brought 
down,  and  their  children  and  children's  children  will  be 
ashamed  to  hear  of  their  act." 

With  this  exception,  and  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to 
disturb  a  meeting  that  I  was  addressing  in  Worcester,  I 
met  with  no  serious  molestation  in  any  of  the  towns  of 
Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  or  Maine,  where  I  lec 
tured  during  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1834.  The 
faces  of  many  of  the  rich  and  fashionable  were  averted 
from  me ;  but  "  the  common  people  "  seemed  to  hear  me 
gladly.  Politicians  and  would-be  statesmen  often  en 
countered  me  in  the  stage-coaches  and  at  the  hotels 
where  I  stopped.  Many  of  our  conflicts  were  amusing 
rather  than  terrible.  They  always  based  themselves 
upon  "the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,"  about  which 
it  was  soon  made  to  appear,  that  they  knew  little  or 


142  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

nothing.  They  took  it  for  granted  that  the  fathers  of 
our  Republic  agreed  that  slavery  should  exist  in  any  of 
the  States  where  the  white  citizens  chose  to  have  it ;  and 
that  the  Constitution  of  our  Union  gave  certain  guaran 
tees  for  the  protection  of  their  "  peculiar  institution  " 
to  the  States  in  which  it  was  maintained.  Moreover, 
these  political  savans  insisted  that  the  Constitution  pro 
vided  that  this  matter  should  be  left  wholly  to  the  slave 
holders  themselves  ;  and  that  all  condemnation  of  it  as 
a  wicked  system,  and  the  exposure  of  its  evils  and  its 
horrors,  was  a  violation  of  State  comity,  if  not  of  the 
rights  of  our  fellow-citizens  of  the  South. 

Perceiving  how  little  most  of  such  friends  of  the  Union 
knew  about  the  fundamental  law  of  our  Republic,  and 
finding,  on  inquiry,  that  copies  of  the  Constitution  were 
in  that  day  very  scarce,  I  not  unfrequently  shut  up  my 
opponents  almost  as  soon  as  they  opened  their  mouths 
upon  the  subject.  When  they  ventured  to  say,  "  The 
Constitution,  sir,  settled  this  question  in  the  begin 
ning,"  I  would  inquire,  "  My  friend,  have  you  ever  read 
the  Constitution  1 "  "  Everybody  knows,  sir,  that  slav 
ery  —  "  Have  you,  yourself,  read  that  document 
to  which  you  appeal1? "  "Why,  sir,  do  you  presume 
to  deny  that  guarantees  —  "  "  My  friend,  I  ask  again, 
have  you  yourself  ever  read  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  1  I  do  not  care  to  go  into  an  argument 
with  you  until  I  know  whether  you  are  acquainted  with 
our  great  national  charter."  In  this  way,  time  and  again, 
I  drew  from  my  would-be  opponents  (sometimes  justices 
of  the  peace),  the  acknowledgment  that  they  had  never 
themselves  seen  a  copy  of  the  Constitution,  but  sup 
posed  that  what  everybody,  except  the  Abolitionists,  said 
of  its  provisions  must  be  true.  Occurrences  of  this  sort 
I  reported  to  the  managers  of  the  Antislavery  Society 
so  frequently,  that  they  caused  a  large  edition  of  the 


IGNORANCE  OF  THE   CONSTITUTION.  143 

United  States  Constitution  to  he  printed,  so  that  copies 
of  it  might  be  distributed  with  our  tracts,  wherever  the 
agents  and  lecturers  saw  fit.  This  was  one  of  the  naughty 
things  we  did,  so  inimical  to  the  peace  and  well-being  of 
our  country. 

The  discussions  which  I  had  with  sundry  individuals 
who  were  acquainted  with  the  subject  led  me  to  study 
the  Constitution  with  greater  care  and  deeper  interest 
than  ever  before.  It  seemed  to  me  that  we  owed  it  to 
the  memory  of  those  venerated  men  whose  names  are 
conspicuous  in  the  early  history  of  our  Republic  — 
those  men  who  so  solemnly  pledged  "  their  lives,  their 
fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor  "  to  the  cause  of  free 
dom  and  the  inalienable  rights  of  man  —  to  exonerate 
them,  if  we  fairly  could,  from  the  awful  responsibility 
that  was  laid  upon  them  by  those  who  insisted  that  they 
guaranteed  to  the  Southern  States  the  unquestioned  ex 
ercise  of  their  assumed  right  to'  enforce  the  enslavement 
of  one  sixth  part  of  the  population  of  the  land,  many 
of  whom  had  shared  with  them  in  all  the  hardships  and 
perils  of  their  struggles  for  independence.  It  seemed  to 
me  that  every  article  of  the  Constitution  usually  quoted 
as  intended  to  favor  the  assumptions  of  slaveholders 
admitted  of  an  opposite  interpretation,  and  that  we  were 
bound  by  every  honorable  and  humane  consideration  to 
prefer  that  interpretation.  The  conclusions  to  which  I 
was  brought  on  this  subject  I  gave  some  time  afterwards 
in  the  Antislavery  Magazine  for  1836.  But  the  publica 
tion  of  the  "  Madison  Papers,"  in  which  was  given  the 
minutes,  debates,  etc.,  of  the  convention  which  framed 
the  Constitution,  I  confess,  disconcerted  me  somewhat. 
I  could  not  so  easily  maintain  my  ground  in  the  discus 
sions  which  afterwards  agitated  so  seriously  the  Aboli 
tionists  themselves,  —  some  maintaining  that  the  Consti 
tution  was,  and  was  intended  to  be,  proslavery ;  others 


144  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

maintaining  that  it  was  antislavery.  It  seemed  to  me 
that  it  might  be  whichever  the  people  pleased  to  make 
it,  I  rejoice,  therefore,  with  joy  unspeakable  that  the 
question  is  at  length  practically  settled,  though  by  the 
issue  of  our  late  awful  war. 


THE  CLERGY  AND   THE  QUAKERS. 

THE  coming  of  George  Thompson  to  our  country  in 
the  fall  of  1834,  and  his  thrilling  eloquence  respecting 
our  great  national  iniquity,  awakened  general  attention 
to  the  subject,  and  caused  more  excitement  about  it  than 
before.  He  came,  as  it  were,  a  missionary  from  the 
philanthropists  of  Great  Britain  to  show  our  people  their 
transgression.  The  politicians  tried  to  get  up  the  public 
indignation  against  him  as  "  a  foreign  emissary  interfer 
ing  with  our  political  affairs."  The  religionists  resented 
his  coming  as  an  impertinence,  though  they  were  much 
engaged  in  sending  missionaries  to  the  heathen  to  reclaim 
them  from  sins  no  more  heinous  than  ours.  Neverthe 
less,  the  people  nocked  to  hear  him,  and  many  were  con 
verted.  The  demand  for  antislavery  lectures  came  from 
all  parts  of  New  England,  and  from  many  parts  of  the 
Middle  and  Western  States.  A  great  work  was  to  be 
done.  The  fields  were  whitening  to  the  harvest,  but  the 
laborers  were  few.  I  therefore  accepted  the  renewed 
invitation  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society  to 
become  its  General  Agent  and  Corresponding  Secretary, 
and  removed  to  Boston  early  in  the  spring  of  1835. 
Many  of  my  nearest  relatives  and  dearest  friends  received 
me  kindly,  but  with  sadness.  They  feared  I  should  lose 
my  standing  in  the  ministry  and  become  an  outcast  from 
the  churches.  For  a  while  it  seemed'  as  if  their  appre 
hensions  were  not  groundless.  None  of  the  Boston  min 
isters,  excepting  Dr.  Channing,  welcomed  me.  Dr.  Fol- 


THE  CLERGY  AND   THE   QUAKERS.  145 

Ion,  Dr.  Ware,  Jr.,  and  Dr.  Palfrey  were  then  resident  in 
Cambridge  ;  Mr.  Picrpont  was  in  Europe.  James  Free 
man  Clarke  had  not  left  Louisville,  and  Theodore  Parker 
was  a  student  in  the  Divinity  School.  I  was  indeed  soon 
made  to  feel  that  I  was  not  in  good  repute.  Dr.  Ware, 
who  had  charge  of  the  Hollis  Street  pulpit  in  the  ab 
sence  of  the  pastor,  invited  me  to  supply  it,  if  I  found  I 
could  do  so  consistently  with  my  new  duties.  I  engaged 
for  two  Sundays.  But  at  the  close  of  the  first,  one  of  the 
chief  officers  of  the  church  waited  upon  me,  by  direction 
of  the  principal  members,  and  requested  me  not  to  enter 
their  pulpit  again,  assuring  me,  if  I  should  do  so,  that  a 
dozen  or  more  of  the  prominent  men  with  their  families 
would  leave  the  house.  Of  course  I  yielded  that,  and  I 
was  not  invited  into  any  other  pulpit  in  the  city,  except 
ing  Dr.  Channing's,  during  the  fifteen  months  that  I  re 
sided  there. 

Soon  after  my  removal  to  Boston  I  was  informed  that 
a  young  and  very  popular  minister  in  a  neighboring 
town  had  preached  an  antislavery  sermon  on  the  Fast 
Day  then  just  past.  I  hurried  to  see  him,  and  requested 
him  to  read  to  me  the  sermon.  He  did  so.  It  was  an 
admirable  expose  of  the  wickedness  of  holding  men  in 
slavery,  and  of  the  duty  incumbent  upon  all  Christian 
and  humane  persons  to  do  what  they  could  to  break  such 
a  yoke.  It  was  the  outpouring  of  an  ingenuous,  benevo 
lent,  generous  heart,  that  deeply  felt  for  the  wrongs  of 
the  outraged  millions  in  our  country. 

I  begged  a  copy  of  the  discourse  for  the  press,  assuring 
him  it  would  be  a  most  valuable  contribution  to  the  cause 
of  the  oppressed.  He  consented  to  let  me  have  it,  prom 
ising  that,  after  retouching  and  fitting  it  for  the  press,  he 
would  send  it  to  me.  I  returned  to  the  Antislavery  office 
and  made  arrangements  to  publish  a  large  edition  of  that, 
which  would  then  have  been  a  remarkable  sermon. 
7  j 


146  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

After  waiting  more  than  a  week  for  the  promised 
manuscript  I  called  upon  the  author  again.  In  answer 
to  my  inquiry  why  he  had  not  fulfilled  his  promise  he 
said  :  "  I  have  concluded  not  to  allow  the  discourse  to 
be  published.  Some  of  the  most  prominent  members  of 
our  church  have  earnestly  advised  me  not  to  give  it  to 
the  press."  "  Why,"  said  I,  "  have  they  convinced  you 
that  slaveholding  is  not  as  sinful  as  you  represented  it 
to  be,  or  that  you  have  been  misinformed  as  to  the  con 
dition  of  our  enslaved  countrymen  ?  "  "  O  no,"  he  re 
plied,  "but  then  this  is  a  very  complicated,  difficult 
matter  between  our  Northern  and  Southern  States,  and 
I  have  been  admonished  to  let  it  alone."  "  Do  you 
believe,"  I  inquired,  "that  those  who  so  admonished 
you  were  prompted  to  give  you  such  advice  by  their 
sense  of  justice  to  the  enslaved,  their  compassion  for 
those  millions  to  whom  all  rights  are  denied,  and  whose 
conjugal,  parental,  filial,  and  fraternal  affections  are 
trampled  under  foot  Is  Or  were  they  influenced  by  pecu 
niary,  or  by  party  political  considerations  1"  "  It  is  not 
for  me,  sir,  to  say  what  their  motives  were,"  he  replied, 
in  a  tone  that  intimated  displeasure.  "  They  are  among 
my  best  friends,  and  the  most  respectable  members  of 
my  parish.  I  am  bound  to  give  heed  to  their  counsel. 
I  mean  so  to  do.  I  shall  not  allow  my  sermon  to  be  pub 
lished.  I  shall  not  commit  myself  to  the  antislavery 
cause."  "  Let  me  only  say,"  I  added,  "  if  you  do  not 
commit  yourself  to  the  cause  of  the  oppressed,  you  will 
probably,  erelong,  be  found  on  the  side  of  the  oppres 
sor."  So  we  parted.  And  my  prediction  was  fulfilled. 

Two  or  three  years  afterwards  it  was  reported  that  the 
same  gentleman,  having  visited  the  Southern  States  and 
enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  the  slaveholders,  returned  and 
preached  a  discourse  very  like  "  The  South  Side  View  of 
Slavery,"  by  Dr.  Adams,  of  Essex  Street. 


THE   PROSLAVERY   QUAKERS  147 

On  Fast  Day,  1852,  it  so  happened  that  I  was  visiting 
a  parishioner  of  this  brother  minister.  I  accompanied 
him  to  church,  and  heard  from  that  very  able  and  elo 
quent  preacher  the  most  unjust  and  cruel  sermon  against 
the  Abolitionists  that  I  had  ever  listened  to  or  read. 

This  incident  and  my  reception  in  Boston  prepared  me 
in  a  measure  for  the  warn  ing  given  me  by  the  New  York 
merchant,  as  related  on  page  127.  Still,  I  could  not 
think  so  badly  of  my  fellow-citizens,  my  fellow-Chris 
tians  of  the  North,  the  New  England  States,  as  I  was 
afterwards  compelled  to  do. 

Th'at  the  cancer  of  slavery  had  eaten  still  deeper  than 
I  was  willing  to  believe  was  soon  after  made  too  apparent 
to  me. 

THE  QUAKERS. 

We  had  always  counted  upon  the  aid  and  co-operation 
of  the  Quakers.  We  considered  them  "  birthright  " 
Abolitionists.  And  many  of  Mr.  Garrison's  earliest  sup 
porters,  most  untiring  co-laborers,  and  generous  contribu 
tors  were  members  of  "  the  Society  of  Friends,"  or  had 
been.  Besides  John  G.  Whittier  and  James  and  Lucre- 
tia  Mott,  Evan  Lewis.  Thomas  Shipley,  and  others,  of 
whom  I  have  already  spoken,  in  my  account  of  the  Phil 
adelphia  Convention,  there  were  the  venerable  Moses 
Brown,  and  the  indefatigable  Arnold  Buffum,  and  that 
remarkable  man,  Isaac  T.  Hopper,  and  the  large-hearted, 
open-handed  Andrew  Robeson  and  William  Rotch,  and 
Isaac  and  Nathan  Winslow,  and  Nathaniel  Barney,  and 
Joseph  and  Anne  Southwick,*  and  fifty  more,  whose 
praises  I  should  delight  to  celebrate. 

But  we  had  received  no  expression  of  sympathy  from 
any  "Yearly"  or  "Monthly  Meeting,"  and  we  felt  moved 
to  seek  a  sign  from  them.  Accordingly,  at  the  suggestion 

*  See  Appendix. 


148  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

of  some  of  the  Friends  who  were  actively  engaged  with 
ns,  I  went  to  Newport,  R.  I.,  in  June,  1835,  at  the  time 
of  the  great  New  England  Yearly  Meeting,  to  see  if  I 
could  obtain  from  them  any  intimation  of  friendliness. 
My  wife  accompanied  me.  When  we  arrived  at  the  prin 
cipal  hotel  in  the  place,  where  I  was  told  we  should  find 
"  the  weighty  "  as  well  as  a  large  number  of  the  lighter 
members  of  the  Society,  we  were  at  a  loss  to  account  for 
the  fluster  of  the  landlord  and  his  helpers,  and  the  tar 
diness  with  which  we  were  informed  that  we  could  be 
accommodated.  After  we  had  got  established,  I  learned 
from  one  who  had  urged  my  coming,  that  there  had 
been  quite  a  commotion  in  consequence  of  the  report 
that  the  General  Agent  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery 
Society  was  about  to  visit  the  "  Yearly  Meeting."  Wil 
liam  ,  and  William ,  and  Oliver ,  and 

Isaac ,  and  Thomas ,  wealthy  cotton  manufac 
turers  and  merchants,  had  bestirred  themselves  to  pre 
vent  such  "  an  intrusion,"  as  they  were  pleased  to  term 
it.  They  had  secured  the  public  halls  of  Newport 
against  me  during  the  continuance  of  the  "  Yearly  Meet 
ing,"  and  had  been  trying,  on  the  morning  of  the  day 
that  I  arrived,  to  induce  the  landlord  to  refuse  me  any 
accommodation  in  his  house.  And  thev  would  have  suc 
ceeded,  had  not  forty  of  his  boarders  informed  him  that 
if  he  did  not  receive  me  they  would  quit  his  premises. 
These  forty,  though  of  less  account  in  the  meeting, 
which,  I  learned,  was  governed  by  the  aristocracy  that 
occupied  the  high  seats,  were  more  weighty  in  the  re 
ceipts  of  the  hotel-keeper.  He  therefore  compromised 
with  the  dignitaries  bv  agreeing  to  serve  their  meals  in  a 
private  parlor,  so  that  their  eyes  might  not  be  offended 
at  the  sight  of  the  antislavery  agent  in  the  common 
dining-hall. 

I  sought,  through    several  of  their  very  respectable 


CONDUCT  OF  THE  QUAKERS.        149 

members,  permission  to  attend  their  "  Meeting  on  Suf 
ferings  "  and  present  to  their  consideration  the  principles 
and  plans  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society  and  its 
auxiliaries.  This  request  was  peremptorily  denied.  I 
then  besought  them  to  give  their  "testimony  on  slavery," 
as  they  had  sometimes  done  in  times  past.  This  they 
also  refused. 

An  arrangement  was  then  made  by  the  members  who 
were  Abolitionists,  many  of  whom  boarded  with  me  at 
"  Whitfield's,"  that  I  should  address  as  many  as  saw  fit 
to  meet  me  in  the  large  reception-room  of  the  hotel,  in 
the  evening  of  the  second  day  of  my  visit.  So  soon  as 
this  was  known,  it  was  asked  of  me  if  I  would  consent 
to  let  the  meeting  be  conducted  somewhat  in  the  man 
ner  of  "the  Society  of  Friends  "  so  that  any  who  should 
be  moved  to  speak  might  have  the  liberty.  I  acquiesced 
most  cheerfully,  not  doubting  that  I  should  be  moved, 
and  should  be  expected  to  address  the  meeting  first  and 
give  the  direction  to  it. 

Fifty  or  sixty  persons  assembled  at  the  hour  appoint 
ed.  Deeming  it  respectful  to  my  Quaker  brethren  to 
sit  in  silence  a  few  minutes  after  the  meeting  came  to 
order,  I  did  so,  and  in  so  doing  lost  my  chance  to  be 
heard.  A  wily  brother  took  advantage  of  my  sense  of 
propriety,  rose  before  me  and  delivered  a  long  discourse 
upon  slavery,  made  up  of  the  commonplaces  and  plati 
tudes  of  the  subject,  about  which  all  were  agreed.  He 
was  followed  instantly  by  another  in  the  same  vein,  and 
when  the  evening  was  far  spent  and  the  auditors  were 
beginning  to  withdraw,  I  was  permitted  to  speak  a  few 
minutes  upon  the  vital  points  in  the  questions  between 
the  immediate  Abolitionists  and  the  slaveholders  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  Colonizationists  on  the  other  hand. 

However,  the  next  morning,  in  the  presence  of  twenty 

or  more,  I  had  unexpectedly  a  long  and  pretty  thorough 

7* 


150  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

discussion  with  the  distinguished  John  Griscom,  so  that 
mj  visit  to  Newport  was  not  wholly  lost. 

I  am  sorry  that  truth  compels  me  to  add,  that  after 
wards  we  had  too  many  proofs  that  "  the  Society  of 
Friends,"  with  all  their  antislavery  professions,  were  not, 
as  a  religious  sect,  much  more  friendly  than  others  to  the 
immediate  emancipation  of  the  enslaved  without  expatri 
ation.  They  were  disposed  to  be  Colonizationists  rather 
than  Abolitionists. 

THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR. 

Rejected  as  we  Abolitionists  were  generally  by  the 
religionists  of  every  denomination,  denounced  by  many 
of  the  clergy  as  dangerous,  yes,  impious  persons,  refused 
a  hearing  in  almost  all  the  churches,  it  was  not  strange 
that  the  statesmen  and  politicians  had  no  mercy  upon  us. 

The  first  most  serious  opposition  from  any  minister  I 
myself  directly  encountered'  was  in  the  pleasant  town 
of  Taunton.  I  went  thither  on  the  15th  of  April,  1835, 
and  had  a  very  successful  meeting  in  the  Town  Hall, 
which  was  filled  full  with  respectable  persons  of  both 
sexes.  So  much  interest  in  the  subject  was  awakened 
that  a  large  number  on  the  spot  signified  their  readiness 
to  co-operate  with  those  who  were  laboring  to  procure  the 
abolition  of  American  slavery.  To  my  surprise,  the 
most  prominent  minister  in  the  town,  a  learned  and 
liberal  theologian,  and  a  gentleman  of  unexceptionable 
private  character,  took  the  utmost  pains  to  prevent  the 
formation  of  an  auxiliary  antislavery  society  there.  He 
declared  that  "  the  slaves  were  the  property  of  their 
masters,"  that  "  we  of  the  North  had  no  more  right 
to  disturb  this  domestic  arrangement  of  our  Southern 
brethren,  and  prevent  the  prosecution  of  their  industrial 
operations,  than  the  planters  had  to  interfere  with  our 


THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR.  151 

manufactures  and  commerce."  He  dealt  out  to  the 
Abolitionists  no  small  number  of  opprobrious  epithets ; 
charged  us  with  being  the  cause  of  the  New  York  mobs 
of  October,  1834,  and  insisted  that,  if  we  "  were  per 
mitted  to  prosecute  our  measures,  it  would  inevitably 
dissolve  the  Union  and  cause  a  civil  war." 

This  was  the  substance  of  the  verbal  opposition  that 
we  met  with  everywhere  throughout  the  Northern, 
Middle,  and  Western  States  ;  strengthened  by  the  argu 
ments  of  the  civilians  and  statesmen,  intended  to  show 
that  the  enslavement  of  the  colored  population  of  certain 
States  was  settled  by  .the  founders  of  our  Republic,  who 
made  several  compromises  in  relation  to  it,  and  gave 
sundry  guarantees  to  the  slaveholders  which  must  be 
held  sacred. 

Many  timid  persons  everywhere,  by  such  assertions 
and  appeals,  were  deterred  from  yielding  to  the  convic 
tions  which  the  self-evident  truths,  urged  by  the  Aboli 
tionists,  awakened.  Still  the  cause  of  the  oppressed  made 
visible  progress  in  all  parts  of  the  non-slaveholding 
States.  Alarmed  by  this,  the  barons  of  the  South,  as 
Mr.  Adams  significantly  styled  them,  stirred  up  their 
dependants  and  partisans  to  demand  something  more  of 
their  Northern  brethren  than  denunciation  and  oppro 
brium  against  the  Abolitionists.  "  They  must  be  put 
down  by  law  or  without  laiu,  as  the  necessity  of  the  case 
might  require."  And  the  determination  to  do  just  this 
was  at  length  come  to  by  "  the  gentlemen  of  property 
and  standing  "  throughout  the  North,  as  the  New  York 
merchant,  mentioned  on  the  foregoing  127th  page  in 
formed  me. 

In  pursuance  of  this  determination,  the  great  meeting 
in  Faneuil  Hall,  called,  as  I  have  said  already,  by  fifteen 
hundred  of  the  respectable  gentlemen  of  Boston,  was  held 
on  the  21st  of  August,  1835.  The  grave  inisrepreseiita- 


152  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

tions,  the  plausible  arguments,  the  inflammatory  appeals 
made  by  the  very  distinguished  civilians  who  addressed 
that  meeting,  invoked  those  demon  spirits  throughout 
New  England  that  did  deeds,  of  which  I  hope  the  insti 
gators  themselves  became  heartily  ashamed. 

How  devilish  those  spirits  were  I  was  made  to  know  a 
few  evenings  after  that  never-to-be-forgotten  meeting.  I 
went  to  the  quiet  town  of  Haverhill,  by  special  invitation 
from  John  G.  Whittier  and  a  number  more  of  the  gen 
uine  friends  of  humanity.  I  had  lectured  there  twice  be 
fore  without  opposition,  and  went  again  not  apprehend 
ing  any  disturbance.  The  meeting  was  held  in  the  Free 
will  Baptist  Church,  —  a  large  hall  over  a  row  of  stores. 
The  audience  was  numerous,  occupying  all  the  seats  and 
evidently  eager  to  hear.  I  had  spoke  about  fifteen  min 
utes,  when  the  most  hideous  outcries,  yells,  from  a 
crowd  of  men  who  had  surrounded  the  house  startled  us, 
and  then  came  heavy  missiles  against  the  doors  and  blinds 
of  the  windows.  I  persisted  in  speaking  for  a  few  min 
utes,  hoping  the  blinds  and  doors  were  strong  enough  to 
stand  the  siege.  But  presently  a  heavy  stone  broke 
through  one  of  the  blinds,  shattered  a  pane  of  glass  and 
fell  upon  the  head  of  a  lady  sitting  near  the  centre  of  the 
hall.  She  uttered  a  shriek  and  fell  bleeding  into  the  arms 
of  her  sister.  The  panic-stricken  audience  rose  en  masse, 
and  began  a  rush  for  the  doors.  Seeing  the  danger,  I 
shouted  in  a  voice  louder  than  I  ever  uttered  before  or 
since,  "  Sit  doivn.,  every  one  of  you,  sit  down  !  The  doors 
are  not  wide  ;  the  platform  outside  is  narrow ;  the  stairs 
down  to  the  street  are  steep.  If  you  go  in  a  rush,  you 
will  jam  one  another,  or  be  thrown  down  and  break  your 
limbs,  if  not  your  necks.  If  there  is  any  one  here  whom 
the  mob  wish  to  injure,  it  is  myself.  I  will  stand  here 
and  wait  until  you  are  safely  out  of  the  house.  But  you 
must  go  in  some  order  as  I  bid  you."  To  my  great  joy 


THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR.  153 

they  obeyed.  All  sat  down,  and  then  rose,  as  I  told  them 
to,  from  the  successive  rows  of  pews,  and  went  out  with 
out  any  accident. 

When  the  house  was  nearly  empty  I  took  on  my  arm 
a  brave  young  lady,  who  would  not  leave  me  to  go 
through  the  mob  alone,  and  went  out.  Fortunately 
none  of  the  ill-disposed  knew  me.  So  we  passed  through 
the  lane  of  madmen  unharmed,  hearing  their  impreca 
tions  and  threats  of  violence  to  the Abolitionist 

when  he  should  come  out. 

It  was  well  we  had  delayed  no  longer  to  empty  the 
hall,  for  at  the  corner  of  the  street  above  we  met  a 
posse  of  men  more  savage  than  the  rest,  dragging  a  can 
non,  which  they  intended  to  explode  against  the  build 
ing  and  at  the  same  time  tear  away  the  stairs ;  so  furious 
and  bloodthirsty  had  "the  baser  sort"  been  made  by 
the  instigations  of  "the  gentlemen  of  property  and 
standing." 

In  October  it  was  thought  advisable  for  me  to  go  and 
lecture  in  several  of  the  principal  towns  of  Vermont.  I 
did  so,  and  everywhere  I  met  with  contumely  and  insult. 
I  was  mobbed  five  times.  In  Rutland  and  Montpelier 
my  meetings  were  dispersed  with  violence.  Of  the  last 
only  shall  I  give  any  account,  because  I  had  been  special 
ly  invited  to  Montpelier  to  address  the  Vermont  State 
Antislavery  Society.  The  Legislature  was  in  session 
there  at  that  time,  and  many  of  the  members  of  that 
body  were  Abolitionists.  We  were,  therefore,  without 
much  opposition,  granted  the  use  of  the  Representatives' 
Hall  for  our  first  meeting,  on  the  evening  of  October 
20.  A  large  number  of  persons  —  as  many  as  the  hall 
could  conveniently  hold  —  were  present,  including  many 
members  of  the  Legislature,  and  ladies  not  a  few. 
There  were  some  demonstrations  of  displeasure  in  the 
yard  of  the  Capitol  and  a  couple  of  eggs  and  a  stone  or 


154  ANTISL AVERT  CONFLICT. 

two  were  thrown  through  the  window  before  which  I  was 
standing.  But  their  force  was  spent  before  they  reached 
me,  and  therefore  they  were  not  suffered  to  interrupt 
my  discourse.  At  the  close,  I  was  requested  to  tarry 
in  Montpelier  and  address  the  public  again  the  next 
evening  from  the  pulpit  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  the  largest  audience-room  in  the  village.  This 
I  gladly  consented  to  do.  But  the  next  morning  pla 
cards  were  seen  all  about  the  village,  admonishing  "  the 
people  generally,  and  ladies  in  particular,  not  to  attend 
the  antislavery  meeting  proposed  to  be  held  that  even 
ing  in  the  Presbyterian  church,  as  the  person  who  is 
advertised  to  speak  will  certainly  be  prevented,  by  vio 
lence  if  necessary"  In  the  afternoon  I  received  a  letter 
signed  by  the  President  of  the  bank,  the  Postmaster, 
and  five  other  "  gentlemen  of  property  and  standing  " 
in  Montpelier,  requesting  me  to  leave  town  "  without 
any  further  attempt  to  hold  forth  the  absurd  doctrine  of 
antislavery,  and  save  them  the  trouble  of  using  any 
other  measures  to  that  effect."  But  as  I  had  accepted 
the  invitation  to  deliver  a  second  lecture,  I  determined 
to  make  the  attempt  so  to  do,  these  threats  notwith 
standing.  Accordingly,  just  before  the  hour  appointed, 
with  a  venerable  Quaker  lady  on  my  arm,  I  proceeded 
to  the  meeting-house  and  took  a  seat  in  the  pulpit. 
After  a  prayer  had  been  offered  by  Rev.  Mr.  Hurl  but,  I 
rose  to  speak.  But  I  had  hardly  uttered  a  sentence 
when  the  ringleader  of  the  riot,  Timothy  Hubbard,  Esq., 
rose  with  a  gang  about  him  and  commanded  me  to  de 
sist.  I  replied,  "  Is  this  the  respect  paid  to  the  liberty 
of  speech  by  the  free  people  of  Vermont  ?  Let  any  one 
of  your  number  step  forward  and  give  reasons,  if  he  can, 
why  his  fellow-citizens,  who  wish,  should  not  be  permit 
ted  to  hear  the  lecture  I  have  been  invited  here  to  de 
liver.  If  I  cannot  show  those  reasons  to  be  fallacious, 


MOB  AT   MONTPELIER.  155 

false,  I  will  yield  to  your  demand.  But  for  the  sake  of 
one  of  our  essential  rights,  the  liberty  of  speech,  I  shall 
proceed  if  I  can."  While  I  was  saying  these  words  the 
rioters  were  still.  But  so  soon  as  I  commenced  my 
lecture  again,  Mr.  Hubbard  and  his  fellows  cried  out, 
"  Down  with  him  ! "  "  Throw  him  over  ! "  "  Choke  him  !  " 
Hon.  Chauncy  L.  Knapp,  then,  or  afterwards,  I  believe, 
Secretary  of  State,  remonstrated  earnestly,  implored  his 
fellow-citizens  not  to  continue  disgracing  themselves,  the 
town,  and  the  State.  But  his  words  were  of  no  avail. 
The  moment  I  attempted  a  third  time  to  speak  the 
rioters  commenced  a  rush  for  the  pulpit,  loudly  shouting 
their  violent  intentions.  At  this  crisis  Colonel  Miller, 
well  known  as  the  companion  of  Dr.  Howe  in  a  generous 
endeavor  to  aid  Greece  in  her  struggle  for  independence 
in  1824,  — Colonel  Miller,  renowned  for  his  courage  and 
prowess,  sprang  forward  and  planted  himself  in  front  of 
the  leader,  crying  in  a  voice  of  thunder,  "  Mr.  Hubbard, 
if  you  do  not  stop  this  outrage  now,  I  will  knock  3^011 
down  !  "  The  rush  for  the  pulpit  was  stayed  ;  but  such 
an  alarm  had  spread  through  the  house,  that  there  was 
a  hasty  movement  from  all  parts  towards  the  doors,  and 
my  audience  dispersed.  Colonel  Miller,  Mr.  Knapp,  and 
several  other  gentlemen  urged  me  to  remain  in  town 
another  day  and  attempt  a  meeting  the  next  evening, 
assuring  me  that  it  should  be  protected  against  the  ruf 
fians.  But  it  was  Friday,  and  I  had  engaged  to  be  in 
Burlington  the  next  day,  to  preach  for  Brother  Ingersoll 
the  following  Sunday,  and  deliver  an  antislavery  lecture 
from  his  pulpit  in  the  evening.  So  I  was  obliged  to 
leave  our  good  friends  in  the  capital  of  Vermont  morti 
fied  and  vexed  at  what  had  occurred  there. 

But  on  my  arrival  at  Burlington  I  received  tidings 
from  Boston  of  a  far  greater  outrage  that  had  been  per 
petrated  at  the  same  time,  in  the  metropolis  of  New 


156  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

England.  On  page  127  I  made  mention  of  the  "well- 
dressed,  gentlemanly  "  mob  of  October  21st,  which  broke 
up  a  regular  meeting  of  the  Female  Antislavery  Society. 
The  fury  of  the  populace  had  been  incited  to  the  utmost 
by  articles  in  the  Commercial  Gazette,  the  Courier,  the 
Sentinel,  and  other  newspapers,  of  which  the  following 
is  a  specimen  :  "  It  is  in  vain  that  we  hold  meetings  in 
Faneuil  Hall,  and  call  into  action  the  eloquence  and  pa 
triotism  of  our  most  talented  citizens;  it  is  in  vain  that 
speeches  are  made  and  resolutions  adopted,  assuring  our 
brethren  of  the  South  that  we  cherish  rational  and  cor 
rect  notions  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  if  Thompson  and 
Garrison,  and  their  vile  associates  in  this  city,  are  to  be 
permitted  to  hold  their  meetings  in  the  broad  face  of 
day,  and  to  continue  their  denunciations  against  the 
planters  of  the  South.  They  must  be  put  down  if  we 
would  preserve  our  consistency.  The  evil  is  one  of  the 
greatest  magnitude ;  and  the  opinion  prevails  very  gen 
erally  that  if  there  is  no  law  that  will  reach  it,  it  must 
be  reached  in  some  other  way." 

Though  "  the  patriots  "  had  been  especially  maddened 
by  the  report  that  "  the  infamous  foreign  scoundrel, 
Thompson,"  "the  British  emissary,  the  paid  incendi 
ary,  Thompson,"  was  to  address  the  meeting,  yet,  when 
assured  he  was  not  and  would  not  be  there,  they  did 
not  desist.  "  But  Garrison  is  !  "  was  the  cry  ;  "  snake 
him  out  and  finish  him  !  "  They  tore  down  the  sign  of 
the  Antislavery  office  and  dashed  it  to  pieces  ;  compelled 
the  excellent  women  to  leave  their  hall,  seized  upon  Mr. 
Garrison,  tore  off  his  clothes,  dragged  him  through  the 
streets,  and  would  have  hanged  him,  had  it  not  been  for 
the  almost  superhuman  efforts  of  several  gentlemen,  as 
sisted  by  some  of  the  police  and  a  vigorous  hack-driver, 
who  together  succeeded  in  getting  him  to  Leverett 
Street  Jail,  where  he  was  committed  for  safe-keeping. 


FRANCIS  JACKSON.  157 

The  disgraceful  story  was  too  well  told  at  the  time 
ever  to  be  forgotten,  especially  by  Mr.  Garrison  himself, 
and  more  especially  by  Mrs.  Maria  Weston  Chapman,  in 
a  little  volume  entitled  "  Right  and  Wrong  in  Boston." 

To  show  my  readers  still  further  how  general  the  de 
termination  had  become  throughout  the  Northern  States 
to  put  down  the  antislavery  agitation  by  foul  means,  I 
will  here  only  allude  to  the  significant  fact  that  on  the 
same  day,  October  21,  1835,  a  mob,  led  on  or  counte 
nanced  by  gentlemen  of  respectability,  broke  up  an  anti- 
slavery  meeting  in  Utica,  N.  Y.,  and  drove  out  of  the 
city  such  men  as  Gerrit  Smith,  Alvan  Stuart,  and  Beriah 
Green.  Hereafter  I  will  give  a  full  account  of  the  in 
famous  proceeding,  and  of  some  of  its  consequences. 

FRANCIS  JACKSON. 

There  is  a  most  interesting  sequel  to  my  brief  narra 
tive  of  the  great  outrage  upon  liberty  in  the  metropolis 
of  New  England,  which  cannot  be  so  pertinently  told  in 
any  other  connection. 

After  the  first  attempt  of  the  Female  Antislavery  So 
ciety  to  hold  their  annual  meeting  on  the  14th  of  Oc 
tober,  in  Congress  Hall,  was  thwarted  by  the  fears  of  the 
owner  and  lessee,  Mr.  Francis  Jackson  offered  the  use 
of  his  dwelling-house  in  Hollis  Street  for  that  purpose. 
But  the  ladies  were  unwilling  to  believe  that  they 
should  be  molested  in  their  own  small  hall,  No.  46 
Washington  Street,  and  thought  it  more  becoming  to 
meet  there  than  to  retreat  to  the  protection  of  a  private 
house.  So  the  meeting  was  appointed  to  be  held  there 
on  the  21st.  The  result,  so  disgraceful  to  the  reputation 
of  Boston,  has  just  been  given. 

On  the  evening  of  that  sad  day,  while  the  rioters  were 
yet  patrolling  the  city,  exulting  over  their  shameful 


158  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

deeds,  and  threatening  the  persons  and  property  of  the 
Abolitionists,  Francis  Jackson,  called  upon  Miss  Mary 
Parker,  the  truly  devout  and  brave  President  of  the 
Boston  Female  Antislavery  Society,  and  renewed  the  offer 
of  his  dwelling  in  the  following  letter  of  invitation  :  — 

"  To  THE  LADIES  OF  THE  BOSTON  FEMALE  ANTISLAVERY 
SOCIETY. 

"  Having  with  deep  regret  and  mortification  observed  the 
manner  in  which  your  Society  has  been  treated  by  a  portion 
of  the  community,  especially  by  some  of  our  public  journals, 
and  approving  as  I  do  most  cordially  the  objects  of  your  asso 
ciation,  I  offer  you  the  use  of  my  dwelling-house  in  Hollis 
Street  for  the  purpose  of  holding  your  annual  meeting,  or  for 
any  other  meeting. 

"  Such  accommodations  as  I  have  are  at  your  service,  and 
I  assure  you  it  would  afford  me  great  pleasure  to  extend  this 
slight  testimony  of  my  regard  for  a  Society  whose  objects 
are  second  to  none  other  in  the  city. 

"  With  great  respect, 

"  FRANCIS  JACKSON." 

This  heroic  act  thrilled  with  joy  the  hearts  of  the 
"faithful,"  and  inspired  them  with  new  courage.  For 
two  or  three  years  Mr.  Jackson  had  evinced  a  deep  inter 
est  in  the  antislavery  cause,  but  we  did  not  suspect  that 
he  had  so  much  Roman  virtue. 

His  invitation  was  gratefully  accepted,  and  due  no 
tices  were  published  in  the  usual  form  that  the  meeting 
would  be  held  at  his  house  on  the  19th  of  November. 
Kenewed  efforts  were  made  by  our  opposers  to  create 
another  excitement.  The  air  was  filled  with  threats. 
But  the  editors  of  the  newspapers  did  not  come  up  to 
the  work  as  before.  Fewer  prominent  gentlemen  en 
couraged  "  the  baser  sort,"  and  therefore  the  mob  did 
not  come  out  in  its  strength.  About  a  hundred  and 
thirty  ladies  and  four  gentlemen  gathered  at  the  time 


HARRIET   MARTINEAU.  159 

appointed  in  Mr.  Jackson's  house,  and  were  not  molest 
ed  on  the  way  thither  or  while  there,  excepting  by  a  few 
insulting  epithets  and  an  occasional  ribald  shout. 

It  was  an  intensely  interesting  meeting,  conducted  in 
the  usual  manner  with  the  utmost  propriety  ;  *  and  an 
air  of  unfeigned  solemnity  was  thrown  over  it  by  the  con 
sciousness  of  the  dense  cloud  of  malignant  hatred  that 
was  hanging  over  us,  and  which  might  again  burst  upon 
us  in  some  cruel  outrage. 

Among  the  ladies  present  were  the  celebrated  Miss 
Harriet  Martineau,  of  England,  and  her  very  intelligent 
travelling  companion,  Miss  Jeffrey.  At  the  right  mo 
ment,  when  the  regular  business  of  the  meeting  had 
been  transacted,  Ellis  Gray  Loring,  from  the  beginning  a 
leading  Abolitionist,  —  and  one  whose  lead  it  was  always 
well  to  follow,  for  he  was  a  very  wise,  a  single-hearted, 
and  most  conscientious  man,  —  Mr.  Loring  handed  me  a 
slip  of  paper  for  Miss  Martineau,  on  which  was  written 
an  earnest  request  that  she  would  then  favor  the  meet 
ing  with  some  expression  of  her  sympathy  in  the  objects 
of  the  association.  She  immediately  rose  and  said,  with 
cordial  earnestness  :  "  I  had  supposed  that  my  presence 
here  would  be  understood  as  showing  my  sympathy  with 
you.  But  as  I  am  requested  to  speak,  I  will  say  what 
I  have  said  through  the  whole  South,  in  every  family 
where  I  have  been,  that  I  consider  slavery  inconsistent 
with  the  law  of  God,  and  incompatible  with  the  course 
of  his  providence.  I  should  certainly  say  no  less  at  the 
North  than  at  the  South  concerning  this  utter  abomina 
tion,  and  now  I  declare  that  in  your  principles  I  fully 
agree." 

Hitherto  Miss  Martineau  had  received  from  the  elite 
of  Boston  very  marked  attentions.  She  had  been  treat 
ed  with  great  respect,  as  one  so  distinguished  for  her 

*  See  "  Bight  and  Wrong  in  Boston,"  by  Mrs.  M.  W.  Chapman. 


160  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

literary  works  and  philanthropic  labors  deserved  to  he. 
But  from  the  day  of  that  meeting,  and  because  of  the 
words  she  uttered  there,  she  was  slighted,  rejected,  and 
in  various  ways  made  to  understand  that  she  had  given 
great  offence  to  "  the  best  society  in  that  metropolis." 

Two  days  afterwards  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the 
Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society  directed  me,  their 
Corresponding  Secretary,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  to 
express  to  Mr.  Jackson  the  very  high  sense  which  they 
entertained  of  his  generosity  and  noble  independence 
in  proffering,  as  he  had  done  unsolicited,  the  use  and 
protection  of  his  dwelling-house  to  the  Boston  Female 
Antislavery  Society,  when  they  had  just  been  expelled 
by  lawless  violence  from  a  public  hall. 

My  letter,  written  immediately  in  pursuance  of  this 
vote,  drew  from  Mr.  Jackson  the  following  reply,  which, 
considering  the  place  where  and  the  time  when  it  was 
written,  as  well  as  its  intrinsic  excellence,  deserves  to  be 
preserved  among  the  most  precious  deposits  in  the  Tem 
ple  of  Impartial  Liberty,  whenever  such  a  structure 
shall  be  reared  upon  earth. 

"  BOSTON,  November  25, 1835. 

"  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt 
of  your  highly  esteemed  letter  of  the  21st  inst,  written  in 
behalf  of  the  Managers  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery 
Society,  and  expressing  in  very  flattering  terms  their  ap 
probation  of  my  conduct  in  granting  to  the  ladies  of  the 
Antislavery  Society  the  use  of  my  dwelling-house  for  their 
Annual  Meeting. 

"  That  meeting  was  a  most  interesting  and  impressive  one. 
It  will  ever  be  treasured  by  me,  among  the  most  pleasing  recol 
lections  of  my  life,  that  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  extend  to 
those  respectable  ladies  the  protection  of  my  roof  after  they 
had  been  reviled,  insulted,  and  driven  from  their  own  hall  by 
a  mob. 

"  But  in  tendering  them  the  use  of  my  house,  sir,  I  not  only 


MR.   JACKSON'S  LETTER.  1G1 

had  in  view  their  accommodation,  but  also,  according  to  my 
humble  measure,  to  recover  and  perpetuate  the  right  of  free 
discussion,  which  has  been  shamefully  trampled  on.  A  great 
principle  has  been  assailed,  —  one  which  lies  at  the  very 
foundation  of  our  republican  institutions. 

"  If  a  large  majority  of  this  community  choose  to  turn  a  deaf 
ear  to  the  wrongs  which  are  inflicted  upon  millions  of  their 
countrymen  in  other  portions  of  the  land,  —  if  they  are  con 
tent  to  turn  away  from  the  sight  of  oppression,  and  *  to  pass 
by  on  the  other  side,'  so  it  must  be. 

11  But  when  they  undertake  in  any  way  to  annul  or  impair 
my  right  to  speak,  write,  and  publish  my  thoughts  upon  any 
subject,  more  especially  upon  enormities  which  are  the  com 
mon  concern  of  every  lover  of  his  country  and  his  kind,  so 
it  must  not  be,  —  so  it  shall  not  be,  if  I  can  prevent  it.  Upon 
this  great  right  let  us"  hold  on  at  all  hazards.  And  should  we, 
in  its  exercise,  be  driven  from  public  halls  to  private  dwell 
ings,  one  house  at  least  shall  be  consecrated  to  its  preserva 
tion.  And  if  in  defence  of  this  sacred  privilege,  which  man 
did  not  give  me,  and  shall  not  (if  I  can  help  it)  take  from  me, 
this  roof  and  these  walls  shall  be  levelled  to  the  earth,  let 
them  fall !  If  it  must  be  so,  let  them  fall !  They  cannot 
crumble  in  a  better  cause.  They  will  appear  of  very  little 
value  to  me  after  their  owner  shall  have  been  whipped  into 
silence. 

"  Mobs  and  gag-laws,  and  the  other  contrivances  by  which 
fraud  or  force  would  stifle  inquiry,  will  not  long  work  well  in 
this  community.  They  betray  the  essential  rottenness  of  the 
cause  they  are  meant  to  strengthen.  These  outrages  are  do 
ing  their  work  with  the  reflecting. 

"  Happily,  one  point  seems  to  be  gaining  universal  assent, 
that  slavery  cannot  long  survive  free  discussion.  Hence  the 
efforts  of  the  friends  and  apologists  of  slavery  to  break  down 
this  right.  And  hence  the  immense  stake  which  the  enemies 
of  slavery  hold,  in  behalf  of  freedom  and  mankind,  in  the 
preservation  of  this  right.  The  contest  is  therefore  substan 
tially  between  liberty  and  slavery. 

"  As  slavery  cannot  exist  with  free  discussion,  so  neither 
can  liberty  breathe  without  it.  Losing  this,  we  shall  not  be 


162  ANTISL AVERT  CONFLICT. 

freemen  indeed,  but  little,  if  at  all,  superior  to  the  millions  we 
are  now  seeking  to  emancipate. 

lt  With  the  highest  respect, 

"  Your  friend, 

"  FRANCIS  JACKSON. 
"  REV.  S.  J.  MAY,  Cor.  Sec.  Mass.  A.  S.  S." 

Well  said  Mrs.  Maria  W.  Chapman,  who  was  usually 
the  first  to  give  the  most  pertinent  expression  to  the 
best  thought  of  every  occasion,  —  well  said  Mrs.  Chap 
man,  "Ten  such  men  would  have  saved  our  city  and 
country  from  the  indelible  disgrace  which  has  been  in 
flicted  upon  them  by  the  outrageous  proceedings  of  the 
21st  and  24th  of  October.  Mr.  Jackson  has  by  this  act 
done  all  that  one  man  can  do  to  redeem  the  character  of 
Boston."  And  were  there  not  nine  other  men  in  the 
metropolis  of  New  England,  where  dwelt  descendants  of 
Samuel  Adams  and  Josiah  Quincy,  and  relatives  of 
Joseph  Warren  and  James  Otis  and  John  Hancock,  and 
other  men  of  Revolutionary  fame  ;  were  there  not  nine 
other  men  there  to  spring  to  the  rescue  of  the  ark  of 
civil  liberty  ]  Alas  !  they  did  not  appear.  The  abettors 
of  slavery  were  in  the  ascendant.  "  The  gentlemen  of 
property  and  standing"  thought  it  good  policy,  both 
politically  and  pecuniarily  considered,  to  trample  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  under  foot.  And  the  people 
generally  seemed  willing  to  perpetrate  wrongs  far  greater 
than  Great  Britain  ever  inflicted  on  their  fathers. 

RIOT  AT  UTICA,  N.  Y.  —  GERRIT  SMITH. 

The  resort  to  mobocratic  violence  in  so  many  parts  of 
the  Middle,  Northern,  and  Eastern  States  showed  how 
general  had  become  the  determination  of  the  "gentle 
men  of  property  and  standing  "  (as  the  leaders  every 
where  claimed  or  were  reported  to  be)  to  put  down  the 


RIOT  AT  UTICA.  1G3 

Abolitionists  by  foul  means,  having  found  it  impossible 
to  do- so  by  fair  discussion.  This  had  been  peremptorily 
demanded  of  them  by  their  Southern  masters  ;  and  they 
had  evidently  come  to  the  conclusion  that  no  other  means 
would  be  effectual  to  stay  the  progress  of  universal,  im 
partial  liberty.  No  one  fact  showed  us  how  almost  uni 
versally  this  plan  of  operations  was  adopted,  so  plainly  as 
the  fact  that,  at  the  very  same  time,  October  21,  1835, 
antislavery  meetings  were  broken  up  and  violently  dis 
persed  in  Boston,  Mass.,  Utica,  N.  Y.,  and  Montpelier,  Vt. 

Societies  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  had  been  formed 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  in  many  towns  and  several 
counties  of  the  State.  And  it  had  come  to  be  obvious 
that  their  efficiency  would  be  greatly  increased  if  they 
should  be  united  in  a  State  organization.  Accordingly, 
invitations  were  sent  everywhere  to  all  known  associations, 
and  to  individuals  where  there  were  no  associations,  call 
ing  them  to  meet  on  the  21st  of  October  in  Utica,  then 
the  most  central  and  convenient  place,  for  the  purpose  of 
forming  a  New  York  State  Antislavery  Society. 

So  soon  as  it  became  public  that  such  a  Convention 
was  to  be  held  in  their  city,  certain  very  "  prominent 
and  respectable  gentlemen"  set  about  to  avert  "the 
calamity  and  disgrace."  It  was  denounced  in  the  news 
papers,  and  deprecated  by  loud  talkers  in  the  streets. 
Soon  the  excitement  became  general.  When  it  was 
known  that  permission  had  been  given  for  the  Conven 
tion  to  occupy  the  Court-room,  "  the  whole  population 
was  thrown  into  an  uproar."  A  large  meeting  of  the 
people  was  held  on  Saturday  evening,  October  1 7th,  and 
adopted  measures  to  preoccupy  the  room  where  the  Con 
vention  were  called  to  assemble  ;  and  in  every  way,  by 
any  means,  prevent  the  proceedings  of  such  a  body  of 
"fanatics,"  "incendiaries,"  "madmen."  Hon.  Samuel 
Beardsley,  member  of  Congress  from  Oneida  County,  de- 


164  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

clared  that  "  the  disgrace  of  having  an  Abolition  Conven 
tion  held  in  the  city  is  a  deeper  one  than  that  of  twenty 
mobs  ;  and  that  it  would  be  better  to  have  Utica  razed  to 
its  foundations,  or  to  have  it  destroyed  like  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah,  than  to  have  the  Convention  meet  here."* 

Nevertheless,  delegates  from  all  parts  of  the  State  and 
individuals  interested  in  the  great  cause,  at  the  appointed 
time,  came  into  Utica  in  great  numbers,  —  six  or  eight 
hundred  strong.  On  arriving  at  the  Court-house,  they 
found  the  room  pre-occupied  by  a  crowd  of  their  vocifer 
ous  opponents,  and  therefore  quietly  repaired  to  the 
Second  Presbyterian  meeting-house. 

As  soon  as  practicable  the  Convention  was  organized 
by  the  choice  of  Hon.  Judge  Brewster,  of  Genesee  County, 
Chairman,  and  Rev.  Oliver  Wetmore,  of  Utica,  Secretary. 
The  Hon.  Alvan  Stewart,  a  most  excellent  man  and  dis 
tinguished  lawyer,  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  the 
Utica  Antislavery  Society,  which  had  first  proposed  the 
calling  of  the  Convention,  rose,  and  after  a  few  pertinent 
and  impressive  remarks,  moved  the  formation  of  a  New 
York  State  Antislavery  Society,  and  read  a  draft  of  a 
Constitution.  While  he  was  reading  a  noisy  crowd 
thundered  at  the  doors  for  admission.  One  of  the  Alder 
men  of  the  city,  in  attempting  to  keep  them  back,  had 
his  coat  torn  to  pieces.  As  soon  as  the  reading  of  the 
draft  was  finished,  it  was  unanimously  adopted  as  the 
Constitution,  and  the  State  Antislavery  Society  tvas 
formed. 

Mr.  Lewis  Tappan  then  proceeded  to  read  a  declara 
tion  of  sentiments  and  purposes,  that  had  been  carefully 
prepared.  But  he  had  not  half  finished  the  document, 
when  a  large  concourse  of  persons  rushed  into  the  house 

*  I  have  been  told,  and  I  record  it  here  to  his  honor,  that  Hon.  Joshua 
A.  Spencer  made  an  earnest,  excellent  speech,  in  behalf  of  free  discus- 


RIOT  AT  UTICA.  1G5 

and  commanded  him  to  stop.  He,  however,  persisted  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duty  with  increased  earnestness  to 
the  end,  when  the  declaration  was  adopted  unanimously 
by  a  rising  vote. 

The  Convention  then  gave  audience  to  the  leaders  of 
the  mob,  who  declared  themselves  to  be  a  Committee  of 
twenty-five,  sent  thither  by  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of 
Utica,  held  that  morning  in  the  Court-house.  Hon. 
Chester  Hayden,  first  Judge  of  the  County,  was  Chair 
man  of  this  Committee.  He  presented  a  series  of  con 
demnatory  resolutions,  which  had  just  been  adopted  at 
the  Court-house.  They  were  respectfully  listened  to  by 
the  Convention,  and  then  the  mob  gave  loud  utterance 
to  their  denunciations  and  threats.  The  Judge  remon 
strated  with  the  rioters,  saying  :  "  We  have  been  re 
spectfully  listened  to  by  the  Convention,  I  hope  my 
friends  will  permit  the  answer  of  the  Convention  to  be 
heard  in  peace."  Mr.  Tappan  then  moved  that  a  com 
mittee  of  ten  be  appointed  to  report  what  answer  should 
be  made  to  the  citizens. 

Hon.  Mr.  Beardsley,  mentioned  above,  one  of  the 
Committee  of  twenty-five,  also  said,  "  It  is  proper  we 
should  hear  what  the  Convention  have  to  say,  either 
now  or  by  their  Committee.  We  are  bound  to  hear 
them ;  we  are  bound  to  exercise  all  patience  and  long- 
suffering,  even  towards  such  an  assembly  as  this.  . 
For  my  part,  I  should  like  to  hear  what  apology  can  be 
made  for  proceedings  which  we  know,  and  they  know, 
are  intended  to  exasperate  the  members  of  our  National 
Union  against  each  other.  They  profess  to  come  here 
on  an  errand  of  religion,  while,  under  its  guise,  they  are 
hypocritically  plotting  the  dissolution  of  the  American 
Union.  They  have  been  warned  beforehand,  have  been 
treated  with  unexampled  patience,  and  if  they  now  re 
fuse  to  yield  to  our  demand,  and  any  unpleasant  circum- 


166  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

stances  should  follow,  we  shall  not  be  responsible." 
Such  talk,  and  more  of  the  same  sort  that  he  uttered, 
was  adapted,  if  it  was  not  intended,  to  inflame  the  mob- 
ocrats  yet  more.  So  when,  in  conclusion,  he  said,  "  But 
let  us  hear  their  justification  for  this  outrage  on  our 
feelings,  if  they  have  any  to  offer,"  the  cry  rose,  "  No ! 
we  won't  hear  them  ;  they  sha'n't  be  heard.  Let  them 
go  home.  Let  them  ask  our  forgiveness,  and  we  will  let 
them  go."  Many  of  the  rioters  were  too  evidently  in 
flamed  with  strong  drink  as  well  as  passion ;  and  this 
was  easily  accounted  for,  though  it  was  in  the  forenoon 
of  the  day,  by  the  fact  afterwards  stated  in  the  New 
York  Commercial  Advertiser,  that  the  grog-shops  in  the 
neighborhood  were  thrown  open  and  liquor  furnished 
gratuitously  to  the  tools  and  minions  of  "  the  very  re 
spectable  citizens,  the  best  people  of  Utica,"  who  were 
determined  their  city  should  not  tolerate  a  Convention 
of  Abolitionists.  It  was  evident  that  these  leaders  held 
"  the  baser  sort "  under  some  restraint,  for  one  of  them 
cried  out,  "  Let  them  say  the  word,  and  I  am  ready  to 
tear  the  rascals  in  pieces."  Loud  threats  of  violence 
were  reiterated,  with  imprecations  and  blasphemies. 
The  leading  members  of  the  Committee  of  twenty-five 
besought  the  Convention  to  adjourn,  and  seeing  that  it 
was  impossible  to  transact  any  more  business,  they  did 
adjourn  sine  die. 

Most  of  the  members  retired  unmolested  excepting 
by  abusive,  profane,  and  obscene  epithets.  A  cry  was 
raised  by  some  of  the  Committee  for  "  the  minutes  "  of 
the  Convention,  and  members  pressed  upon  the  vener 
able  Secretary,  demanding  that  he  should  give  them  up. 
But  he  resolutely  refused,  though  they  crowded  him 
against  the  wall,  seized  him  by  the  collar,  and  threat 
ened  to  beat  him.  A  member  of  the  Committee  of 
twenty-five,  a  man  holding  an  important  public  office, 


EIOT  AT  UTICA.  1G7 

raised  his  cane  over  that  aged  and  faithful  minister  of 
the  Gospel  and  cried  out,  "  God  damn  you !  give  the 
papers  up,  or  I  will  knock  you  on  the  head."  At  this, 
another  of  the  Committee,  a  young  man  —  his  son- — 
sprang  forward  and  begged  him,  "  Do,  father,  give 
them  up  and  save  your  life.  Give  them  to  me,  and  I 
will  pledge  myself  they  shall  be  returned  to  you  again." 
"With  this  Rev.  Mr.  Wetmore  complied,  and  was  let  off 
without  any  further  harm. 

Many  of  the  newspapers,  especially  those  of  New  York 
City,  exulted  over  the  results  of  the  riots  of  the  21st  of 
October  in  Boston  and  Utica.  They  boasted  that,  by 
thus  dealing  with  the  Abolitionists,  the  people  of  the 
Northern  States  proved  themselves  to  be  sound  to  the 
core  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  "  Hereafter,"  said  the 
New  York  Sunday  Morning  News,  "  hereafter  the  leaders 
of  the  Abolitionists  will  be  treated  with  less  forbearance 
than  they  have  been  heretofore.  The  people  will  con 
sider  them  as  out  of  the  pale  of  the  legal  and  conven 
tional  protection  which  society  affords  to  its  honest  and 
well-meaning  members.  They  will  be  treated  as  robbers 
and  pirates,  as  the  enemies  of  the  human  kind." 

The  most  important  incident  of  the  Utica  riot  was  the 
accession  which  it  caused  of  Gerrit  Smith  to  our  ranks. 
The  great  and  good  man  had,  for  many  years,  been  an 
active  opponent  of  slavery.  He  had  always  been  in 
favor  of  immediate  emancipation,  and  was  unusually 
free  from  prejudice  against  colored  people.  But  from 
almost  the  beginning  of  the  Colonization  Society  he  had 
been  a  member  of  it,  deceived  as  we  all  were  by  the 
representations  which  its  agents  at  the  North  made  of 
its  intentions  and  the  tendency  of  its  operations.  He 
believed  its  scheme  was  intended  to  effect  and  would 
effect  the  abolition  of  slavery.  He  therefore  joined  it, 
and  labored  heartily  in  its  behalf,  and  contributed  most 


1G8  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

generously  to  its  funds,  —  ten  thousand  dollars,  if  not 
more.  Mr.  Smith  was  repulsed  from  the  American  Anti- 
slavery  Society,  and  kept  away  for  nearly  two  years,  be 
cause  he  thought  Mr.  Garrison  and  his  associates  were 
unjust  in  their  denunciations  of  the  Colonization  Soci 
ety,  and  too  severe  in  their  censures  of  the  American 
churches  and  ministers,  as  virtually  the  accomplices  of 
slaveholders. 

But  the  outrages  committed  upon  the  Abolitionists  in 
the  fall  of  1834,  and  throughout  the  year  1835,  fixed 
his  attention  more  fully  upon  them.  He  determined  to 
know,  to  search,  and  prove  those  who  had  become  the 
subjects  of  such  general  and  unsparing  persecution. 
When,  therefore,  the  Convention  for  the  formation  of  a 
State  Antislavery  Society  was  to  be  held  in  Utica  (only 
twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  from  his  residence),  he  could 
not  withhold  himself  from  it.  He  went  thither,  not  as 
a  member  of  any  Antislavery  Society,  not  intending  to 
become  a  member,  but  determined  to  hear  for  himself 
what  should  be  said,  see  what  should  be  done,  learn 
what  might  be  proposed,  and  decide  as  he  should  find 
reason  to,  between  the  Abolitionists  and  their  adversaries. 
Alas,  that  the  prominent,  influential,  professedly  relig 
ious  men  in  every  part  of  our  country  did  not  do  like 
wise  !  Then  would  the  names  of  comparatively  few  of 
them  have  gone  down,  in  the  history  of  this  generation, 
as  the  leaders  and  instigators  of  a  most  shameful  perse 
cution  of  the  friends  of  freedom  and  humanity. 

Mr.  Smith  was  so  disgusted,  shocked,  alarmed,  at  the 
proceedings  of  "  the  gentlemen  of  property  and  stand 
ing  "  in  Utica,  that  he  invited  all  the  members  of  the 
antislavery  convention  to  repair  to  Peterboro'.  And  a 
large  proportion  of  the  members  accepted  his  invitation. 
Insults  and  threats  of  violence  were  showered  upon  them 
wherever  they  were  met  in  the  streets  of  Utica  and  at 


GERRIT   SMITH.  169 

the  hotels  where  they  had  quartered  themselves..  Tho 
same  evil  spirit  of  hatred  pursued  them  on  their  way. 
Especially  at  Vernon,  the  hotel  at  which  they  had  stopped 
for  refreshment  was  beset  by  a  mob,  with  an  evident 
determination  to  rout  them  and  drive  them  from  the 
village.  But  the  resolute  action  of  Captain  Hand,  the 
landlord,  dispersed  the  rioters. 

Arrived  at  Peterboro',  the  Abolitionists  were  most 
cordially  received,  not  only  at  the  hospitable  and  spa 
cious  mansion  of  Gen-it  Smith,  but  into  the  houses  of 
most  of  his  neighbors.  And  the  next  day  was  held  in 
the  Presbyterian  Church  the  first  meeting  of  the  New 
York  State  Antislavery  Society.  At  that  meeting  Mr. 
Smith  brought  forward  the  following-  resolution  :  - 

"  Resolved,  That  the  right  of  FREE  DISCUSSION  given  us  by 
our  God,  and  asserted  and  guarded  by  the  laws  of  our  country, 
is  a  right  so  vital  to  man's  freedom  and  dignity  and  usefulness 
that  we  can  never  be  guilty  of  its  surrender,  without  con 
senting  to  exchange  that  liberty  for  slavery  and  that  dignity 
and  usefulness  for  debasement  and  worthlessness." 

This  resolution  he  supported  and  enforced  by  a  speech 
of  surpassing  power,  —  a  speech  which  deserves  to 
be  printed  in  letters  of  light  large  enough  to  be  seen 
throughout  our  country.* 

Ever  since  that  eventful  period  of  our  history  Gerrit 
Smith  has  been  a  most  zealous  fellow-laborer  in  the  anti- 
slavery  cause,  and  bountiful  contributor  of  money  in  its 
behalf.  He  has  made  as  many  speeches  in  large  meetings 
and  small  as  any  man  who  has  not  been  a  hired  agent. 
He  announced  the  doctrines  of  the  immediate  Abolition 
ists  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  and  maintained 
them  in  several  speeches  of  great  ability.  He  has  made 
frequent  donations  to  some  special,  or  to  the  general 
purposes  of  our  Society  of  one,  two,  five,  ten  thousand 

*  See  Appendix. 


170  ANT1SLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

dollars  at  a  time.  He  has  in  every  way  befriended  the 
colored  people  of  our  country,  and  at  one  time  gave  forty 
acres  of  land,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  to  each  one  of 
three  thousand  poor,  temperate  men  of  that  class.  I 
shall  have  an  occasion  in  another  place  to  speak  more 
particularly  of  the  acts  of  this  almost  unequalled  giver. 

DR.   CHAINING. 

Another  and  a  most  auspicious  event  signalizes  in  my 
memory  the  year  1835.  It  was  the  publication  of  Dr. 
Channing's  book  on  Slavery.  He  had  for  many  years 
been  the  most  distinguished  minister  of  religion  in  New 
England,  certainly  in  the  estimation  of  the  Unitarian 
denomination ;  and  his  fame  as  a  Christian  moralist,  a 
philosopher,  and  finished  writer  had  been  spread  far  and 
wide  throughout  England,  France,  and  Germany  by  a 
large  volume  of  his  Discourses,  Essays,  and  Reviews  pub 
lished  in  1830. 

A  few  weeks  after  his  graduation  from  Harvard  Col 
lege  in  1798,  when  about  nineteen  years  of  age,  deter 
mined  to  be  no  longer  dependent  upon  his  mother  and 
friends  for  a  living,  he  gladly  accepted  the  situation  of  a 
tutor  in  the  family  of  Mr.  Randolph,  of  Richmond,  Vir 
ginia.  Here  he  often  met  many  of  the  most  distinguished 
gentlemen  and  ladies  of  the  city  and  the  State,  and 
visited  them  freely  at  their  city  homes  and  on  their  plan 
tations.  He  was  delighted  with  their  cordial  and  elegant 
courtesy.  But  he  saw  also  their  slaves  and  the  sensu 
ality  which  abounded  amongst  them.  These  made  an 
impression  upon  his  heart  which  was  never  effaced. 

In  the  fall  of  1830  he  went  to  the  West  Indies  for  his 
health,  and  passed  the  winter  in  St.  Croix.  There  he 
witnessed  again  the  inherent  wrongs  of  slavery  and  the 
vices  which  it  engenders.  On  his  return  in  May,  1831, 


DR.    CIIAXNING.  171 

he  spoke  freely  and  with  the  deepest  feeling  from  his 
pulpit  of  the  inhuman  system,  and  its  debasing  effects 
upon  the  oppressors  as  well  as  the  oppressed.  At  that 
time  the  public  mind  in  New  England  had  begun  to  be 
agitated  upon  the  subject  of  slavery,  as  it  never  had 
been  before  by  the  scathing  denunciations  that  were 
every  week  poured  from  The  Liberator  upon  slavehold 
ers  and  their  abettors  and  apologists.  Dr.  Channing's 
sensitive  nature  shrank  from  the  severity  of  Mr.  Gar 
rison's  blows,  and  yet  he  acknowledged  that  the  gigantic 
system  of  domestic  servitude  in  our  country  ought  to  be 
exposed,  condemned,  and  subverted.  He  found  his  highly 
esteemed  friend,  Dr.  Follen,  with  his  excellent  wife  and 
several  others  of  the  best  women  in  Boston,  and  Ellis 
Gray  Loring  and  Samuel  E.  Sewall  and  others,  whom  he 
highly  esteemed,  giving  countenance  and  aid  to  the 
"  young  fanatic."  This  drew  his  attention  still  more  to 
the  subject  of  slavery.  Soon  after  his  return  from  the 
West  Indies  I  visited  Dr.  Channing,  and  found  his  mind 
very  much  exercised.  He  sympathized  with  the  Aboli 
tionists  in  their  abhorrence  of  the  domestic  servitude  in 
our  Southern  States,  and  their  apprehension  of  its  cor 
rupting  influence  upon  the  government  of  our  Republic, 
and  the  political  as  well  as  moral  ruin  to  which  it  tend 
ed.  But  he  distrusted  our  measures,  and  was  particular 
ly  annoyed,  as  I  have  already  stated,  by  Mr.  Garrison's 
"  scorching  and  stinging  invectives."  Whenever  I  was 
in  the  city  and  called  upon  the  Doctor,  he  would  make 
particular  inquiries  respecting  our  doctrines,  purposes, 
measures,  and  progress.  Repeatedly  he  invited  me  to  his 
house  for  the  express  purpose,  as  he  said,  of  learning  more 
about  our  antislavery  enterprise.  He  always  spoke  as 
if  he  were  deeply  interested  in  it,  but  he  was  afraid  of 
what  he  supposed  to  be  some  of  our  opinions  and  meas 
ures.  I  was  surprised  that  he  was  so  slow  to  accept  our 


172  ANTISL AVERT   CONFLICT. 

vital  doctrine,  "  immediate  emancipation."  But  owing, 
I  suppose,  to  his  great  aversion  to  excited  speeches  and 
exaggerated  statements,  and  his  peculiar  distrust  of  asso 
ciations,  he  had  never  attended  any  of  our  antislaveiy 
meetings,  where  the  doctrine  of  immediate  emancipation 
was  always  explained.  The  Doctor,  therefore,  as  well 
as  the  people  generally,  misunderstood  it,  and  had  been 
misinformed  in  several  other  respects  as  to  the  purposes, 
measures,  and  spirit  of  the  Abolitionists.  Still  he  per 
sisted  in  abstaining  from  our  meetings  until  after  the 
alarming  course  taken  by  the  Governor  and  Legislature 
of  Massachusetts,  in  the  spring  of  1836,  of  which  I  shall 
give  an  account  in  the  proper  place. 

Late  in  the  year  1834,  being  on  a  visit  in  Boston,  I 
spent  several  hours  with  Dr.  Channing  in  earnest  conver 
sation  upon  Abolitionism  and  the  Abolitionists.  My 
habitual  reverence  for  him  was  such  that  I  had  always 
been  apt  to  defer  perhaps  too  readily  to  his  opinions,  or 
not  to  make  a  very  stout  defence  of  my  own  when  they 
differed  from  his.  But  at  the  time  to  which  I  refer  I 
had  become  so  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the 
essential  doctrines  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society, 
and  so  earnestly  engaged  in  the  dissemination  of  them, 
that  our  conversation  assumed,  more  than  it  had  ever 
done,  the  character  of  a  debate.  He  acknowledged  the 
inestimable  importance  .of  the  object  we  had  in  view. 
The  evils  of  Slavery  he  assented  could  not  be  overstat 
ed.  He  allowed  that  removal  to  Africa  ought  not  to  be 
made  a  condition  of  the  liberation  of  the  enslaved.  But 
he  hesitated  still  to  accept  the  doctrine  of  immediate 
emancipation.  His  principal  objections,  however,  were 
alleged  against  the  severity  of  our  denunciations,  the 
harshness  of  our  epithets,  the  vehemence,  heat,  and  ex 
citement  caused  by  the  harangues  at  our  meetings, 
and  still  more  by  Mr.  Garrison's  Liberator.  The  Doctor 


DR.    CHANNING.  173 

dwelt  upon  these  objections,  which,  if  they  were  as  well 
founded  as  he  assumed  them  to  be,  lay  against  what  was 
only  incidental,  not  an  essential  part  of  our  movement. 
He  dwelt  upon  them  until  I  became  impatient,  and,  for 
getting  for  the  moment  my  wonted  deference,  I  broke 
out  with  not  a  little  warmth  of  expression  and  manner :  — 
"  Dr.  Channing,"  I  said,  "  I  am  tired  of  these  com 
plaints.  The  cause  of  suffering  humanity,  the  cause  of 
our  oppressed,  crushed  colored  countrymen,  has  called 
as  loudly  upon  others  as  upon  us  Abolitionists.  It  was 
just  as  incumbent  upon  others  as  upon  us  to  espouse  it. 
We  are  not  to  blame  that  wiser  and  better  men  did  not 
espouse  it  long  ago.  The  cry  of  millions,  suffering  the 
most  cruel  bondage  in  our  land,  had  been  heard  for 
half  a  century  and  disregarded.  *  The  wise  and  prudent ' 
saw  the  terrible  wrong,  but  thought  it  not  wise  and  pru 
dent  to  lift  a  finger  for  its  correction.  The  priests  and 
Levites  beheld  their  robbed  and  wounded  countrymen, 
but  passed  by  on  the  other  side.  The  children  of  Abra 
ham  held  their  peace,  and  at  last  '  the  very  stones  have 
cried  out '  in  abhorrence  of  this  tremendous  iniquity ; 
and  you  must  expect  them  to  cry  out  like  '  the  stones.' 
You  must  not  wonder  if  many  of  those  who  have  been 
left  to  take  up  this  great  cause,  do  not  plead  it  in  all 
that  seemliness  of  phrase  which  the  scholars  and  prac 
tised  rhetoricians  of  our  country  might  use.  You  must 
not  expect  them  to  manage  with  all  the  calmness  and 
discretion  that  clergymen  and  statesmen  might  exhibit. 
But  the  scholars,  the  statesmen,  the  clergy  had  done 
nothing,  —  did  not  seem  about  to  do  anything,  and  for 
my  part  I  thank  God  that  at  last  any  persons,  be  they 
who  they  may,  have  earnestly  engaged  in  this  cause  ;  for 
no  movement  can  be  in  vain.  We  Abolitionists  are  what 
we  are,  —  babes,  sucklings,  obscure  men,  silly  women, 
publicans,  sinners,  and  we  shall  manage  this  matter  just 


174  ANTISL AVERT   CONFLICT. 

as  might  be  expected  of  such  persons  as  we  are.  It  is 
unbecoming  in  abler  men  who  stood  by  and  would  do 
nothing  to  complain  of  us  because  we  do  no  better. 

"  Dr.  Channing,"  I  continued  with  increased  earnest 
ness,  "it  is  not  our  fault  that  those  who  might  have  con 
ducted  this  great  reform  more  prudently  have  left  it  to 
us  to  manage  as  we  may.  It  is  not  our  fault  that  those 
who  might  have  pleaded  for  the  enslaved  so  much  more 
wisely  and  eloquently,  both  with  the  pen  and  the  living 
voice  than  we  can,  have  been  silent.  We  are  not  to 
blame,  sir,  that  you,  who,  more  perhaps  than  any  other 
man,  might  have  so  raised  the  voice  of  remonstrance 
that  it  should  have  been  heard  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  land,  —  we  are  not  to  blame,  sir,  that 
you  have  not  so  spoken.  And  now  that  inferior  men 
have  been  impelled  to  speak  and  act  against  what  you 
acknowledge  to  be  an  awful  system  of  iniquity,  it  is  not 
becoming  in  you  to  complain  of  us  because  we  do  it  in 
an  inferior  style.  Why,  sir,  have  you  not  taken  this 
matter  in  hand  yourself  1  Why  have  you  not  spoken  to 
the  nation  long  ago,  as  you,  better  than  any  other  one, 
could  have  spoken  1 " 

At  this  point  I  bethought  me  to  whom  I  was  adminis 
tering  this  rebuke,  —  the  man  who  stood  among  the 
highest  of  the  great  and  good  in  our  land,  —  the  man 
whose  reputation  for  wisdom  and  sanctity  had  become 
world-wide,  —  the  man,  too,  who  had  ever  treated  me 
with  the  kindness  of  a  father,  and  whom,  from  my  child 
hood,  I  had  been  accustomed  to  revere  more  than  any 
one  living.  I  was  almost  overwhelmed  with  a  sense  of 
my  temerity.  His  countenance  showed  that  he  was 
much  moved.  I  could  not  suppose  he  would  receive  all 
I  had  said  very  graciously.  I  awaited  his  reply  in  pain 
ful  expectation.  The  minutes  seemed  very  long  that 
elapsed  before  the  silence  was  broken.  Then  in  a  very 


DR.  CHANNING.  175 

subdued  manner  and  in  the  kindliest  tones  of  his  voice 
he  said,  "  Brother  May,  I  acknowledge  the  justice  of 
your  reproof.  I  have  been  silent  too  long."  Never  shall 
I  forget  his  words,  look,  whole  appearance.  I  then  and 
there  saw  the  beauty,  the  magnanimity,  the  humility  of 
a  truly  great  Christian  soul.  He  was  exalted  in  my 
esteem  more  even  than  before. 

The  next  spring,  when  I  removed  to  Boston  and  be 
came  the  General  Agent  of  the  Antislavery  Society,  Dr. 
Channing  was  the  first  of  the  ministers  there  to  call  up 
on  me,  and  express  any  sympathy  with  me  in  the  great 
work  to  which  I  had  come  to  devote  myself.  And  dur 
ing  the  whole  fourteen  months  that  I  continued  in  that 
office  he  treated  me  with  uniform  kindness,  and  often 
made  anxious  inquiries  about  the  phases  of  our  attempt 
ed  reform  of  the  nation. 

Early  in  December,  1835,  Dr.  Channing's  volume  on 
Slavery  issued  from  the  press.  A  few  days  after  its 
publication,  he  invited  Samuel  E.  Sewall  and  myself  to 
dine  with  him,  that  he  might  learn  how  we  liked  his 
book.  Both  of  us  had  been  delighted  with  some  parts 
of  it,  but  neither  of  us  was  satisfied  with  other  parts  ; 
much  dissatisfied  with  some.  He  requested  and  insisted 
on  the  utmost  freedom  in  our  comments.  He  listened  to 
our  objections  very  patiently,  and  seemed  disposed  to 
give  them  their  due  weight. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  the  appearance  of  a  work  on 
Slavery,  by  Dr.  Channing,  caused  a  great  sensation 
throughout  the  land.  It  was  sought  for  with  avidity. 
It  found  its  way  into  many  parlors  from  which  a  copy 
of  The  Liberator  would  have  been  spurned.  Most  of  the 
statesmen  of  our  country  read  it,  and  many  slaveholders. 

Not  many  days  elapsed  before  the  responses  which  it 
awakened  began  to  be  heard  \  and  they  were  by  no  means 
altogether  such  as  he  had  expected.  Although  he  dis- 


176      •  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

claimed  the  Abolitionists ;  stated  that  he  had  never  at 
tended  one  of  our  meetings,  nor  heard  one  of  our  lec 
turers  \  although  he  made  several  grave  objections  to  our 
doctrines  and  measures,  and  unwittingly  gave  his  sanc 
tion  to  several  of  the  most  serious  misrepresentations  of 
our  sentiments,  our  objects,  and  means  of  prosecuting 
them ;  yet  he  so  utterly  repudiated  the  right  of  any  man 
to  property  in  the  person  of  any  other  man,  and  gave 
such  a  fearful  expose  of  the  sinf ulness  of  holding  slaves 
and  the  vices  which  infested  the  communities  where  hu 
man  beings  were  held  in  such  an  unnatural  condition, 
that  the  Southern  aristocracy  and  their  Northern  parti 
sans  came  soon  to  regard  him  as  a  more  dangerous  man 
than  even  Mr.  Garrison.  He  was  denounced  as  an  ene 
my  of  his  country,  as  encouraging  the  insurrection  of 
the  slaves,  and  as  in  effect  laboring  to  do  as  much  harm 
as  the  Abolitionists. 

In  due  time  an  octavo  pamphlet  of  forty-eight  pages 
was  published  in  Boston,  entitled  "  Remarks  on  Dr. 
Channing's  Slavery."  It  was  evidently  written  by  a 
very  able  hand,  and  was  attributed  to  one  of  the  most 
prominent  lawyers  in  that  city.  The  writer  spoke  re 
spectfully  of  Dr.  Channing,  but  condemned  utterly  his 
doctrines  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  found  in  them 
all  the  viciousness  of  the  extremest  abolitionism.  The 
author  announced  and  labored  to  maintain  the  following 
false  propositions  :  "  First.  Public  sentiment  in  the  free 
States  in  relation  to  slavery  is  perfectly  sound  and  ought 
not  to  be  altered.  Second.  Public  sentiment  in  the 
slaveholding  States,  whether  right  or  not,  cannot  be 
altered.  Third.  An  attempt  to  produce  any  alteration 
in  the  public  sentiment  "of  the  country  will  cause  great 
additional  evil,  —  moral,  social,  and  political." 

Such  bald  scepticism  was  not  to  be  tolerated.  "A 
Review  of  the  Remarks "  was  soon  sent  forth.  This 


DR.   CHANN1NG.  177 

called  out  a  "Reply  to  the  Review,"  and -thus  the  sub 
ject  of  slavery  was  fully  broached  among  a  class  of 
people  who  had  given  no  heed  to  The  Liberator  and  our 
antislavery  tracts. 

In  future  articles  I  shall  have  occasion  gratefully  to 
acknowledge  the  further  services  rendered  by  Dr.  Chan- 
ning  to  the  antislavery  cause,  and  to  show  how  at  last 
he  came  nearly  to  accord  in  sentiment  with  the  ultra- 
Abolitionists. 


SLAVERY,  — BY  WILLIAM  E.  CHANNING. 

This  was  the  title  of  Dr.  Channing's  book.  It  ren 
dered  the  antislavery  cause  services  so  important  that  I 
am  impelled  to  give  a  further  account  of  it.  It  seemed 
to  me  at  the  time,  it  seems  to  me  now,  one  of  the  most 
inconsistent  books  I  have  ever  read.  It  showed  how,  all 
unconsciously  to  himself,  the  judgment  of  that  wise  man 
had  been  warped  and  his  prejudices  influenced  by  the 
deference,  which  had  come  to  be  paid  pretty  generally 
throughout  our  country,  to  the  Southern  slaveholding 
oligarchy;  and  by  the  denunciations  which  their  ad 
mirers,  sympathizers,  abettors,  and  minions  in  the  free 
States,  poured  without  measure  upon  Mr.  Garrison  and 
his  comparatively  few  fellow-laborers. 

Dr.  Channing's  profound  respect  for  human  nature 
and  the  rights  of  man,  and  his  heartfelt  compassion  for 
the  oppressed,  suffering,  despised,  were  such  that  he 
could  not  but  see  clearly  the  essential,  inevitable,  terri 
ble  wrongs  and  evils  of  slavery  to  the  master  as  well  as 
to  his  subject.  He  portrayed  these  cruelties  and  vices 
so  clearly  and  forcibly  that  the  pages  of  his  book  con 
tain  as  utter  condemnations  of  the  domestic  servitude  in 
our  Southern  States,  and  as  awful  exposures  of  the  con 
sequent  corruption,  pollution  of  families  and  the  com- 
8*  L 


178  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

munity  in  those  States,  —  condemnations  as  utter  and 
exposures  as  awful  as  could  be  found  in  The  Liberator. 
To  his  chapters  on  "  Property  in  Man,"  "  Rights,"  and 
"  Evils  of  Slavery,"  we  could  take  no  exceptions.  But 
his  chapter  entitled  "  Explanations  "  seems  to  us,  as  Mr. 
Garrison  called  it,  a  chapter  in  recantation,  —  a  disas 
trous  attempt  to  make  it  appear  as  if  there  could  be  sin 
without  a  sinner.  He  says  that  the  character  of  the 
master  and  the  wrong  done  to  the  slave  are  distinct 
points,  having  little  or  no  relation  to  each  other.  He 
therefore  did  not  "  intend  to  pass  sentence  on  the  char 
acter  of  the  slaveholder."  Jesus  Christ  taught  that  "  by 
their  fruits  ye  shall  know  men."  But  the  Doctor  said  in 
this  chapter,  "  Men  are  not  always  to  be  interpreted  by 
their  acts  or  their  institutions."  "  Our  ancestors,"  he 
continued,  "  committed  a  deed  now  branded  as  piracy," 
i.  e.  the  slave-trade.  "  Were  they,  therefore,  the  offscour- 
ing  of  the  earth  ? "  No;  —  but  they  were  pirates,  their 
good  qualities  in  other  respects  notwithstanding.  They 
were  guilty  of  kidnapping  the  Africans,  and  made  them 
selves  rich  by  selling  their  victims  into  slavery.  Piracy 
was  too  mild  a  term  for  such  atrocious  acts.  They  were 
just  as  wicked  before  they  were  denounced  by  law  as 
afterwards.  And  it  was  by  bringing  the  people  of  Eng 
land  and  of  this  country  to  see  the  enormity  of  the 
crimes  inseparable  from  that  trade  in  human  beings,  that 
they  were  persuaded  to  repent  of  it,  to  renounce  and 
abhor  it.  Again  Dr.  Charming  says  under  this  head, 
"  How  many  sects  have  persecuted  and  shed  blood ! 
Were  their  members,  therefore,  monsters  of  depravity  ? " 
I  answer,  their  spirit  was  cruel  and  devilish,  utterly  un 
like  the  spirit  of  Jesus.  They  were  none  of  his,  what 
ever  may  have  been  their  professions.  As  well  might 
we  deny  that  David  was  a  gross  adulterer  and  mean 
murderer,  because  he  wrote  some  very  devotional  psalms. 


DR.   CHANNING.  179 

A  more  marvellous  inconsistency  in  the  book  before  us 
is  this.  The  Doctor  declares  "  that  cruelty  is  not  the 
habit  of  the  slave  States  in  this  country."  "He  might 
have  affirmed  just  as  truly,"  said  Mr.  Garrison,  "  that  idol 
atry  is  not  the  habit  of  pagan  countries."  What  is 
cruelty  1  The  extremest  is  the  reducing  of  a  human  be 
ing  to  the  condition  of  a  domesticated  brute,  a  piece  of 
mere  property.  The  Doctor  himself  has  said  as  much 
in  another  part  of  this  volume,  see  the  26th  page  in  his 
excellent  chapter  on  "  Property."  Having  describe^ 
what  man  is  by  nature,  he  adds,  "  The  sacrifice  of  such 
a  being  to  another's  will,  to  another's  present,  outward, 
ill-comprehended  good,  is  the  greatest  violence  which  can 
be  offered  to  any  creature  of  God.  It  is  to  cast  him  out 
from  God's  spiritual  family  into  the  brutal  herd."  "  No 
robbery  is  so  great  as  that  to  which  the  slave  is  habitu 
ally  subjected."  "  The  slave  must  meet  cruel  treatment 
either  inwardly  or  outwardly.  Either  the  soul  or  the 
body  must  receive  the  blow.  Either  the  flesh  must  be 
tortured  or  the  spirit  be  struck  down."  No  Abolitionist, 
not  even  Mr.  Garrison,  has  set  forth  more  clearly  the 
extreme  cruelty,  inseparable  from  holding  a  fellow-man 
in  slavery  one  hour. 

Still  Dr.  Channing  objected  to  our  primal  doctrine,  — 
"  immediate  emancipation."  But  could  there  have  been 
a  more  obvious  inference  than  this,  which  an  upright 
mind  would  unavoidably  draw  from  a  consideration  of 
the  rights  of  man,  the  evils  of  slavery,  and  the  unpar 
alleled  iniquity  of  subjecting  a  human  being  to  such 
degradation.  I  ask,  could  there  have  been  a  more  ob 
vious  inference  than  that  any,  every  human  being  held 
in  such  a  condition  ought  to  be  immediately  released  from 
it  ]  It  is  plain  to  me  that  Dr.  Channing  himself  drew 
the  same  inference  that  Elizabeth  Hey  rick,*  of  England, 

*  Of  Leicester,  England,  who  first  demanded  "  immediate  emanci 
pation." 


180  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

and  Mr.  Garrison  had  drawn,  although  he  rejected  the 
trenchant  phrase  in  which  they  declared  that  inference. 
Having  exhibited  so  faithfully  and  feelingly  the  wrongs 
and  the  evils  of  slavery,  he  says,  on  the  1 1 9th  page  of  this 
book  :  "  What,  then,  is  to  be  done  for  the  removal  of  slav 
ery  ?  In  the  first  place,  the  slaveholder  should  solemnly 
disclaim  the  right  of  property  in  human  beings.  The 
great  principle  that  man  cannot  belong  to  man  should 
be  distinctly  recognized.  The  slave  should  be  acknowl 
edged  as  a  partaker  of  a  common  nature,  as  having  the 
essential  rights  of  humanity.  This  great  truth  lies  at 
the  foundation  of  every  wise  plan  for  his  relief."  Would 
not  any  one  suppose,  if  he  had  not  been  forbidden  the 
supposition,  that  the  writer  of  these  lines  intended  to 
enjoin  the  immediate  emancipation  of  the  enslaved  ] 
Surely,  he  would  have  the  first  thing  that  is  to  be  done  for 
their  relief  done  immediately.  Surely,  he  would  have  the 
foot  of  the  oppressor  taken  from  their  necks  at  once.  He 
would  have  the  heavy  yoke  that  crushes  them  broken 
without  delay.  Surely,  he  would  have  the  foundation 
of  the  plan  for  the  removal  of  slavery  laid  immediately. 
He  would  not,  could  not  counsel  the  slaveholder  to  post 
pone  a  day,  nor  an  hour,  the  recognition  of  the  right  of 
his  slave  to  be  treated  as  a  fellow-man.  There  is  a  re 
markable  resemblance  between  what  Dr.  Channing  here 
says  ought  to  be  done  in  the  first  place,  and  what  the 
Abolitionists  had  from  the  beginning  insisted  ought  to 
be  done  immediately. 

One  of  the  Doctor's  objections  to  our  chosen  phrase  was 
that  it  was  liable  to  be  misunderstood.  But,  as  we  said 
at  the  time,  "  if  immediate  emancipation  expresses  our 
leading  doctrine  exactly,  it  ought  to  be  used  and  expla 
nations  of  it  be  patiently  given  until  the  true  doctrine 
has  come  to  be  generally  understood,  received,  and 
obeyed."  Now,  immediate  emancipation  was  the  compre- 


DR.   CHANNING.  181 

hensive  phrase  that  did  best  express  the  right  of  the 
slave  and  the  duty  of  the  master.  In  whatever  sense 
we  used  the  word  immediate,  whether  in  regard  to  time 
or  order,  the  word  expressed  just  what  we  Abolitionists 
meant.  We  insisted  upon  it  in  opposition  to  those  who 
were  teaching  slaveholders  to  defer  to  another  generation, 
or  to  some  future  time  an  act  of  common  humanity  that 
was  due  to  their  fellow-men  at  once ;  and  would  be  due 
every  minute  until  it  should  be  done.  We  insisted  upon 
it  in  opposition  to  the  popular  but  deceptive,  impracti 
cable,  and  cruel  scheme  which  proposed  to  liberate  the 
slaves  on  condition  of  their  removal  to  Africa. 

Dr.  Channing  further  objected  that  "  the  use  of  the 
phrase  immediate  emancipation  had  contributed  much  to 
spread  far  and  wide  the  belief,  that  the  Abolitionists 
wished  immediately  to  free  the  slave  from  all  his  re 
straints."  But  ought  we  to  have  been  held  responsible  for 
such  a  senseless,  wanton  misconstruction  of  words  that 
had  been  explained  a  thousand  times  by  our  appointed 
lecturers,  in  our  tracts,  and  in  the  "Declaration  of  the  Sen 
timents,  Purposes,  and  Plans  of  the  American  Antislavery 
Society,"  which  was  published  three  years  before  Dr.  Chan- 
ning's  book  appeared  ]  Freemen,  —  Republican  freemen 
were,  are,  and  ever  ought  to  be  subject  to  the  restraints 
of  civil  government,  equal  and  righteous  laws.  From  the 
commencement  of  our  enterprise,  our  only  demand  for 
our  enslaved  countrymen  has  been  that  they  should  forth 
with  be  admitted  to  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  free 
men  upon  the  same  conditions  as  others,  after  they  shall 
have  acquired  (those  of  them  who  do  not  now  possess) 
the  qualifications  demanded  of  others. 

Still  further  the  Doctor  accused  us  Abolitionists  of 
having  "fallen  into  the  common  error  of  enthusiasts,  — 
that  of  exaggerating  their  object,  of  feeling  as  if  no  evil  ex 
isted  but  that  which  they  opposed,  and  as  if  no  guilt  could 


182  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

be  compared  with  that  of  countenancing  or  upholding  it." 
"VVe  grieved  especially  that  he  suffered  this  censure  to 
drop  from  his  pen,  as,  coming  from  him,  it  would  repress 
in  many  bosoms  the  concern  which  was  beginning  to  be 
felt  more  than  ever  before  for  the  slaves  and  the  slavehold 
ers.  There  was  no  danger  that  we  should  esteem  or 
lead  others  to  esteem  the  evils  of  their  condition  to  be 
greater  than  they  were.  All  about  us  there  was  still 
an  alarming  insensibility  or  indifference  to  the  subject. 
This  could  not  have  been  made  to  appear  more  glaring 
than  by  the  Doctor  himself,  on  the  137th  page  of  his 
book.  "  Suppose,"  he  there  said,  "  suppose  that  millions 
of  white  men  were  enslaved,  robbed  of  all  their  rights  in 
a  neighboring  country,  and  enslaved  by  a  black  race  who 
had  torn  their  ancestors  from  the  shores  on  which  our 
fathers  had  lived.  How  deeply  should  we  feel  their 
wrongs  !  "  Ay,  how  much  more  deeply  would  even  the 
Abolitionists  feel  for  them  !  Yet  why  should  we  not  all 
feel  as  much,  in  the  case  that  actually  existed  in  our 
country  as  in  the  one  supposed  1  We  are  unable  to  find 
a  reason  of  which  we  ought  not  to  be  ashamed,  because 
it  must  be  one  based  upon  a  cruel  prejudice,  the  off 
spring  of  the  degradation  into  which  we  had  forced  the 
black  m,en.  I  really  wish  if  there  are  any  who  think 
with  Dr.  Channing  that  the  Abolitionists  did  exaggerate 
the  guilt  of  holding  men  in  slavery,  or  consenting  with 
slaveholders,  —  I  really  wish  such  persons  would  read 
Dr.  Channing's  chapter  on  the  "  Evils  of  Slavery,"  and 
then  show  us,  if  he  can,  wherein  we  exaggerated  them. 

Dr.  Channing  repelled  with  great  emphasis  the  charge 
often  brought  against  Abolitionists,  that  we  were  endeav 
oring  to  incite  the  slaves  to  violence,  bloodshed,  insur 
rection.  He  said,  page  131  :  "It  is  a  remarkable  fact, 
that  though  the  South  and  the  North  have  been  leagued 
to  crush  them,  though  they  have1  been  watched  by  a 


DR.   CHANNING.  183 

million  of  eyes,  and  though  prejudice  has  been  prepared 
to  detect  the  slightest  sign  of  corrupt  communication 
with  the  slave,  yet  this  crime  has  not  been  fastened  on 
a  single  member  of  this  body."  No,  not  one  of  our 
number,  that  I  was  acquainted  with,  ever  suggested  the 
resort  to  insurrection  and  murder  by  the  enslaved  as  the 
means  of  delivering  them  from  bondage.  And  in  our 
Declaration  at  Philadelphia  we  solemnly  disclaimed  any 
such  intention. 

We  knew  that  slavery  could  be  peaceably  abolished 
only  by  the  consent  of  the  slaveholders  and  the  legisla 
tors  of  their  States.  We  knew  that  they  coidd  not  fail 
to  be  affected,  moved  by  the  right  action  of  our  Federal 
Government,  touching  the  enslavement  of  the  colored 
population  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  in  the  terri 
tories  that  were  entirely  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Con 
gress.  And  we  knew  that  the  members  of  Congress 
could  not  be  reached  and  impelled  to  act  as  we  wished 
them  to,  but  by  the  known  sentiments  and  expressed 
wishes  of  their  constituents,  —  the  people  of  the  nation 
North  and  South.  It  was  needful,  therefore,  to  press 
the  subject  upon  the  consideration  of  the  people  through 
out  the  land.  Accordingly,  we  did  all  in  our  power  to 
awaken  the  public  attention,  to  agitate  the  public  mind, 
to  touch  the  public  heart.  We  sent  able  lecturers  to 
speak  wherever  there  were  ears  to  hear  them,  and  we 
sent  newspapers  and  tracts  wherever  the  mails  would 
carry  them. 

Dr.  Channing  reproached  us  for  this,  especially  for 
sending  our  publications  to  the  slaveholders.  But  we 
know  not  how  else  we  could  have  made  them  sensible 
of  the  horror  with  which  their  system  of  domestic  servi 
tude  was  viewed  by  thousands  in  the  Northern  States; 
and  inform  them  correctly  of  our  determination  to  effect 
the  liberation  of  their  bondmen ;  and  the  peaceful  means 


184  ANTISL AVERT  CONFLICT. 

and  legal  measures  by  which  we  intended,  if  possible,  to 
accomplish  our  purpose.  We  wondered  greatly  at  the 
Doctor's  objection  to  our  course  in  this  direction.  To 
whom  should  we  have  sent  our  publications,  if  not  to 
those  whose  cherished  institution  we  were  aiming  by 
them  to  undermine  and  overthrow  ]  Would  it  have  been 
open,  manly,  honorable  not  to  have  done  so  ? 

One  more  objection  Dr.  Channing  made,  which  seemed 
to  us  as  unreasonable  as  the  last.  It  was  to  our  manner 
of  forming  our  Antislavery  Associations.  He  said  :  "  The 
Abolitionists  might  have  formed  an  association,  but  it 
should  have  been  an  elective  one.  Men  of  strong  prin 
ciples,  judiciousness,  sobriety,  should  have  been  care 
fully  sought  as  members.  Much  good  might  have  been 
accomplished  by  the  co-operation  of  such  philanthropists." 
Alas  !  such  philanthropists,  the  wise  and  prudent  men, 
to  whom  he  probably  alluded,  seemed  to  have  made  up 
their  minds  to  acquiesce  in  the  continuance  of  slavery, 
so  long  as  our  white  brethren  at  the  South  saw  fit  to  re 
tain  the  institution ;  or  to  help  them  take  it  down  very 
gradually,  by  removing  the  victims  of  it  to  the  shores  of 
Africa.  Nearly  fifty  years  had  passed,  and  such  philan 
thropists  as  he  indicated  had  done  little  or  nothing  for 
the  enslaved,  and  seemed  to  be  growing  more  indifferent 
to  their  wrongs.  If  we  had  elected  them,  would  they 
have  associated  with  us  1  Are  they  the  men  to  bear  the 
brunt  of  a  moral  conflict  1  "  Not  many  wise,"  —  as  this 
world  counts  wisdom, — "not  many  rich,  not  many 
mighty,"  were  ever  found  among  the  leaders  of  reform. 
God  has  always  chosen  the  foolish  to  confound  the  wise. 
It  is  left  for  imprudent  men,  enthusiasts,  fanatics,  to  begin 
all  difficult  enterprises.  They  have  usually  been  the  pio 
neers  of  reform.  Else  why  was  not  the  abolition  of  slavery 
attempted  and  accomplished  long  before  by  that  "  better 
class  "  1 


THE   GAG-LAW.  185 

I  have  not  dwelt  so  long  upon  this  book,  and  criticised 
parts  of  it  so  seriously,  in  order  to  throw  any  shade  upon 
the  memory  of  that  great  man,  whom  I  have  so  much 
reason  to  revere  and  love.  But  I  have  done  this  in  order 
to  reveal  more  fully  to  the  present  generation,  and  to 
those  who  may  come  after  us,  the  sad  state  of  the  public 
mind  and  heart  in  New  England  thirty -five  years  ago. 
All  the  objections  Dr.  Channing  alleged  against  us  in 
this  book  were  the  common  current  objections  of  that 
day,  hurled  at  us  in  less  seemly  phrases  from  the  press, 
the  platform,  and  the  pulpit.  They  would  not  have  been 
thought  of,  if  we  had  been  laboring  for  the  emancipation 
of  white  men.  It  was  sad  that  a  man  of  such  a  mind  and 
heart  as  Dr.  Channing's  could  have  thought  them  of  suffi 
cient  importance  to  press  them  upon  us  as  he  did.  Never 
theless,  his  book  contained  so  many  of  the  vital  principles 
for  which  we  were  contesting,  set  forth  so  luminously  and 
urged  so  fervently,  that  it  proved  to  be,  as  I  have  already 
said,  a  far  greater  help  to  our  cause  than  we  at  first  ex 
pected.  And  we  look  back  with  no  little  admiration  up 
on  one  who,  enjoying  as  he  did,  in  the  utmost  serenity, 
the  highest  reputation  as  a  writer  and  a  divine,  put  at 
hazard  the  repose  of  the  rest  of  his  life,  and  sacrificed 
hundreds  of  the  admirers  of  his  genius,  eloquence,  and 
piety,  by  espousing  the  cause  of  the  oppressed,  which 
most  of  the  eminent  men  in  the  land  would  not  touch 
with  one  of  their  fingers. 

THE  GAG-LAW. 

In  the  winter  of  1835  and  1836  the  slaveholding  oli 
garchy  made  a  bolder  assault  than  ever  before  upon  the 
liberty  of  our  nation,  and  the  most  alarming  intima 
tions  were  given  of  a  willingness  to  yield  to  their  imperi 
ous  demands.  The  legislatures  of  Alabama,  Georgia, 


186  ANTISLAVEEY  CONFLICT. 

South  Carolina,  North  Carolina,  and  Virginia  passed 
resolutions  of  the  same  import,  only  those  of  Virginia 
and  South  Carolina  were  clothed,  as  might  have  been  ex 
pected,  in  somewhat  more  imperative  and  threatening 
terms.  These  resolutions  insisted  that  each  State,  in 
which  slavery  was  established,  had  the  exclusive  right  to 
manage  the  matter  in  the  way  that  the  inhabitants  there 
of  saw  fit ;  and  that  the  citizens  of  other  States  who  were 
interfering  with  slavery  in  any  way,  directly  or  indirect 
ly,  were  guilty  of  violating  their  social  and  constitutional 
obligations,  and  ought  to  be  punished.  They  therefore 
"  claimed  and  earnestly  requested  that  the  non-slavehold- 
ing  States  of  the  Union  should  promptly  and  effectually 
suppress  all  abolition  societies,  and  that  they  should 
make  it  highly  penal  to  print,  publish,  and  distribute 
newspapers,  pamphlets,  tracts,  and  pictorial  representa 
tions  calculated  or  having  a  tendency  to  excite  the 
slaves  of  the  Southern  States  to  insurrection  and  re 
volt." 

These  resolutions  further  declared  that  "  they  should 
consider  every  interference  with  slavery  by  any  other 
State,  or  by  the  General  Government,  as  a  direct  and 
unlawful  interference,  to  be  resisted  at  once,  and  under 
every  possible  circumstance."  Moreover,  they  insisted 
that  they  "  should  consider  the  abolition,  of  slavery  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  as  a  violation  of  the  rights  of 
the  citizens  of  that  District,  and  as  a  usurpation  to  be  at 
once  resisted,  as  nothing  less  than  the  commencement  of 
a  scheme  of  much  more  extensive  and  flagrant  injustice." 

Resolutions  in  these  words,  or  to  the  same  effect, 
passed  by  the  legislatures  of  the  above-mentioned 
States,  were  transmitted  by  the  governors  of  those 
States  severally  to  the  governors  of  each  of  the  non- 
slaveholding  States,  among  them  to  the  chief  magistrate 
of  Massachusetts,  then  the  Hon.  Edward  Everett. 


THE   GAG-LAW.  187 

On  the  15th  of  January,  1836,  that  gentleman  deliv 
ered  his  address  to  both  branches  of  the  Legislature  at 
the  organization  of  the  State  Government.  In  the 
course  of  that  address,  as  in  duty  bound  to  do  under  the 
circumstances,  he  alluded  particularly  to  the  subject  of 
slavery,  and  to  the  excitement  kindled  throughout  the 
country  by  the  discussion  of  it  in  the  free  States. 

But  instead  of  showing  that  the  subject  of  human 
rights  was  ever  up,  and  must  needs  be  ever  up,  for  the 
consideration  of  the  American  people,  in  private  circles 
and  public  assemblies ;  that  it  ought  not  and  could  not 
be  prohibited,  —  instead  of  conceding  the  impossibility 
(in  our  country  especially)  of  preventing  the  freest  ex 
pression  of  the  opinion,  that  such  a  glaring  inconsistency, 
such  a  tremendous  iniquity  as  the  enslavement  of  mil 
lions  ought  not  to  be  tolerated  ;  that  the  genius  of  our 
Republic,  the  spirit  of  the  age,  the  principles  of  Chris 
tianity,  the  impartial  love  of  the  Father  of  all  mankind, 
each  and  all  demanded  the  abolition  of  slavery,  —  instead 
of  availing  himself  of  the  occasion  so  fully  given  him, 
from  his  high  position,  to  reiterate  the  glorious  doctrines 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  to  press  upon 
the  complaining  States  the  obvious  necessity  of  their 
yielding  to  the  self-evident  claims  of  humanity,  —  instead 
of  this,  His  Excellency  saw  fit  to  commend  the  disastrous 
policy  of  the  framers  of  our  Republic  ;  to  pass  a  severe 
censure  upon  us  Abolitionists,  and  to  intimate  his 
opinion  that  we  were  guilty  of  offences  punishable  at 
common  law. 

This  part  of  his  speech  was  referred  to  a  joint  com 
mittee  of  two  from  the  Senate  and  three  from  the  House 
of  Representatives,  Hon.  George  Lunt,  Chairman.  By 
order  of  the  managers  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery 
Society,  I  addressed  a  letter  to  the  above-named  commit 
tee,  asking  permission  to  appear  before  them  by  repre- 


188  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

sentatives,  and  show  reasons  why  there  should  be 
no  legislative  action  condemnatory  of  the  Abolition 
ists.  The  request  was  granted,  and  on  the  4th  of  March 
the  proposed  interview  took  place  in  the  chamber  of  the 
Representatives,  in  the  presence  of  many  citizens. 

At  first  a  member  of  the  committee,  Mr.  Lucas,  ob 
jected  to  our  proceeding ;  said  we  were  premature  ;  that 
we  should  have  waited  until  the  committee  had  reported ; 
that  we  had  no  reason  to  apprehend  the  Legislature 
would  do  anything  prejudicial  to  us,  or  to  the  liberties 
of  the  people.  I  replied,  "  that  formerly  it  w^ould  have 
been  a  gratuitous,  an  impertinent  apprehension,  but  re 
cent  occurrences  have  admonished  us,  that  we  may  not 
any  longer  safely  rest  in  the  assurance  that  our  liberties 
are  secure.  Alarming  encroachments  have  been  made 
upon  them,  even  in  the  metropolis  of  New  England. 
We  do  not  fear,"  I  continued,  "  that  your  committee  will 
recommend,  or  that  our  Legislature  will  enact,  a  penal 
law  against  Abolitionists.  But  we  do  apprehend  that 
condemnatory  resolutions  may  be  reported  and  passed  ; 
and  these  we  deprecate  more  than  a  penal  law  for  rea 
sons  that  we  wish  to  press  upon  your  consideration." 

After  some  discussion  between  the  members  of  the 
committee  Mr.  Lucas  withdrew  his  objection,  and  we 
were  allowed  to  proceed.  I  commenced,  being  the  Gen 
eral  Agent  of  the  Society,  and  gave  a  sketch  of  the 
origin,  the  organization,  and  progress  of  the  abolition 
enterprise,  —  stating  distinctly  our  purpose  and  the  in 
strumentalities  by  which  we  intended  to  accomplish  it. 
I  laid  before  the  committee  copies  of  our  newspapers, 
reports,  and  tracts,  —  especially  the  constitutions  of  sev 
eral  State  and  County  Antislavery  Societies,  and  more 
especially  the  report  of  the  convention  that  met  in 
Philadelphia,  in  December  1833,  and  organized  the 
American  Antislavery  Society,  and  issued  a  declaration 


THE  GAG-LAW.  189 

of  sentiments  and  purposes.  All  these  documents,  I  in 
sisted,  would  make  it  plain  to  the  committee  that  we 
were  endeavoring  to  effect  the  abolition  of  slavery  by 
moral  means,  —  not  by  rousing  the  enslaved  to  insurrec 
tion,  but  by  working  such  changes  in  the  public  senti 
ment  of  the  nation  respecting  the  cruelty  and  wickedness 
of  our  slave  system,  that  strong,  earnest  remonstrances 
would  be  sent  from  the  Legislature,  and  still  more  from 
the  ecclesiastical  bodies  in  all  the  free  States  to  corre 
sponding  bodies  in  the  slave  States,  imploring  them  to 
consider  the  awful  iniquity  of  making  merchandise  of 
fellow-men,  and  treating  them  like  domesticated  brutes  ; 
at  the  same  time  offering  to  co-operate  with  them  and 
share  generously  in  the  expense  of  abolishing  slavery, 
and  raising  their  bondmen  to  the  condition  and  privi 
leges  of  the  free. 

Some  discussion  here  ensued  as  to  the  character  of 
some  of  our  publications,  and  the  propriety  of  certain 
expressions  used  by  some  of  our  speakers  and  writers. 
And  then  Ellis  Gray  Loring  was  heard  in  our  behalf. 
This  gentleman  had  been  prominent  among  the  New 
England  Abolitionists  from  the  very  beginning  of  Mr. 
Garrison's  undertaking.  There  were  combined  in  him 
the  strength  and  resolution  of  a  man  with  the  intuitive 
wisdom  and  delicacy  of  a  woman.  He  addressed  the 
committee  more  than  half  an  hour  in  a  most  pertinent 
manner,  replying  aptly  to  their  questions  and  objections. 
"  The  general  duty,"  said  ^Lr.  Loring,  "  of  sympathizing 
with  and  succoring  the  oppressed  will  probably  be  con 
ceded.  It  is  enjoined  by  Christianity.  We  are  im 
pelled  to  it  by  the  very  nature  which  our  Creator  has 
conferred  upon  us.  What,  then,  is  to  limit  our  exercise, 
as  Abolitionists,  of  this  duty  and  this  right  ]  The  rela 
tions  we  bear  to  the  oppressor  control,  it  is  said,  our 
duty  to  the  oppressed.  If  we  are  bound  to  abstain  from 


190  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

the  discussion  of  slavery,  it  must  be  either  because  we 
are  restrained  by  the  principles  of  international  law,  or 
by  some  provisions  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  But,  gentlemen,  if  the  slaveholding  States  were 
foreign  nations,  it  could  not  be  shown  that  we  have  done 
anything  which  the  law  of  nations  forbids.  ^VVe  have 
done  nothing  for  the  overthrow  of  slavery  in  our  South 
ern  States  which  that  law  forbids,  more  than  our  foreign 
missionary  societies  have  for  many  years  been  doing  for 
the  subversion  of  idolatry  in  pagan  lands,  —  nothing 
more  than  was  done  in  this  city  and  all  over  our  country 
to  aid  the  Poles  and  the  Greeks  in  their  struggle  for  free 
dom,  of  which  our  ancient  allies,  the  Russians  and  the 
Turks,  were  determined  to  deprive  them.  If,  then,  the 
Law  of  nations  does  not  restrain  us,  is  it  in  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States  that  such  restraint  is  imposed  1 
Far  from  it.  I  find  in  that,  our  Magna  Charta,  an 
abundant  guaranty  for  the  liberty  of  speech ;  but  I  look 
in  vain  in  the  letter  of  the  Constitution  for  any  prohibi 
tion  of  the  use  of  moral  means  for  the  extirpation  of 
slavery  or  any  other  evil." 

Mr.  Loring  here  took  up  the  three  clauses  of  the  Con 
stitution  in  which  alone  any  allusion  is  made  to  the  sub 
ject  of  slavery,  and  showed  clearly  that  there  was  noth 
ing  in  them  which  forbade  the  fullest  and  freest  discus 
sion  of  the  political  expediency  or  moral  character  of  that 
system  of  oppression.  And  he  confirmed  his  position 
by  referring  to  the  fact,  that  the  framers  of  that  great 
document  did  not  understand  it  as  the  proslavery  states 
men  and  politicians  of  our  day  would  have  it  understood. 
Washington  declared  himself  warmly  in  favor  of  eman 
cipation.  Jefferson's  writings  contain  more  appalling 
descriptions  and  more  bitter  denunciations  of  slavery 
than  are  to  be  found  in  the  publications  of  modern 
Abolitionists ;  and  Franklin,  Rush,  and  John  Jay  were 


THE  GAG-LAW.  191 

members  of  an  antislavery  society  formed  a  few  years 
after  they  had  signed  the  Constitution,  and  they  joined 
in  a  petition  to  Congress  praying  for  the  abolition  of  that 
system  of  domestic  servitude,  so  inconsistent  with  our 
political  principles  and  disastrous  to  our  national  honor 
and  prosperity." 

I  have  not  given,  nor  have  I  room  to  give,  anything 
like  a  full  report  of  Mr.  Loring's  speech.  He  closed  with 
these  words  :  "  A  great  principle,  gentlemen,  is  involved 
in  the  decision  of  this  Legislature.  I  esteem  as  nothing 
in  comparison  our  feelings  or  wishes  as  individuals.  Per 
sonal  interests  sink  into  insignificance  here.  Sacrifice  us 
if  you  will,  but  do  not  wound  liberty  through  us.  Care 
nothing  for  men,  but  let  the  oppressor  and  his  apolo 
gist,  whether  at  the  North  or  the  South,  beware  of  the 
certain  defeat  which  awaits  him  who  is  found  fighting 
against  God." 

The  next  one  who  addressed  the  committee  was  the 
Rev.  William  Goodell,  one  of  the  sturdiest,  most  saga 
cious  and  logical  of  our  fellow-laborers.  We  are  indebt 
ed  to  him  for  "  a  full  statement  of  the  reasons  which 
were  in  part  offered  to  the  committee,"  &c.,  &c.,  given  to 
the  public  in  a  pamphlet  which  was  issued  from  the  press 
a  few  days  after  our  interviews  with  said  committee. 

I  shall  here  quote  only  the  most  important  passage  in 
his  speech  :  "  We  would  deprecate  the  passage  of  any  con 
demnatory  resolutions  by  the  Legislature,  even  more 
than  the  enactment  of  a  penal  law,  for  in  the  latter  case 
we  should  have  some  redress.  We  could  plead  the  un- 
constitutionality  of  such  a  law,  at  any  rate,  it  could 
not  take  effect  until  we  had  had  a  fair  trial.  Not 
so,  gentlemen  of  this  committee,  in  the  case  of  resolu 
tions.  We  should  have  no  redress  for  the  injurious 
operation  of  such  an  extra-judicial  sentence.  The  pas 
sage  of  such  resolutions  by  this  and  other  legislatures 


192  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

would  help  to  fix  in  the  public  mind  the  belief  that 
Abolitionists  are  a  specially  dangerous  body  of  men,  and 
so  prepare  the  public  to  receive  such  a  law  as  the  slave- 
holding  States  might  dictate.  We  solemnly  protest 
against  a  legislative  censure,  because  it  would  be  a  usur 
pation  of  an  authority  never  intrusted  to  the  Legisla 
ture.  They  are  not  a  judicial  body,  and  have  no  right 
to  pronounce  the  condemnation  of  any  one." 

"  Hold,"  said  Mr.  Lunt,  the  Chairman  of  the  com 
mittee,  "you  must  not  indulge  in  such  remarks,  sir. 
We  cannot  sit  here  and  permit  you  to  instruct  us  as  to 
the  duties  of  the  Legislature." 

Mr.  Goodell  resumed,  justified  the  remark  for  which 
he  had  been  called  to  order,  and  completed  his  very  able 
argument  against  any  concurrence  on  the  part  of  the 
General  Court  of  Massachusetts  with  the  demands  of  the 
Southern  States. 

Mr.  Garrison  next  addressed  the  committee  in  a  very 
comprehensive  and  forcible  speech.  But  he  neglected 
to  give  any  report  of  it  in  his  Liberator.  I  can  there 
fore  lay  before  your  readers  only  this  brief  passage  :  "It 
is  said,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  the  Abolitionists  wish  to  de 
stroy  the  Union.  It  is  not  true.  We  would  save  the 
Union,  if  it  be  not  too  late.  To  us  it  would  seem  that 
the  Union  is  already  destroyed.  To  us  there  is  no 
Union.  We,  sir,  cannot  go  through  these  so-called  United 
States  enjoying  the  privileges  which  the  Constitution 
of  the  Union  professed  to  secure  to  all  the  citizens  of 
this  Republic.  And  why  ]  Because,  and  only  because, 
we  are  laboring  to  accomplish  the  very  purposes  for 
which  it  is  declared  in  the  preamble  to  the  Constitution 
that  the  Union  was  formed !  Because  we  are  laboring 
'  to  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  and 
promote  the  general  welfare.' '' 

Dr.    Follen  then  arose.     He  was   extensively  known 


THE   GAG-LAW.  193 

and  very  much  respected  and  beloved  by  all  who  had 
known  him,  as  a  Professor  in  Harvard  College,  or  as  a 
preacher  of  true  Christianity  in  several  parishes  in  the 
vicinity  of  Boston.  He  had  done  and  suffered  much  for 
the  sake  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  in  his  own  coun 
try,  —  Germany,  —  and  had  come  to  our  country  in  the 
high  hope  of  enjoying  the  blessings  and  privileges  of  true 
freedom.  He  early  espoused  the  antislavery  cause,  and 
rendered  us  essential  services  by  his  wise  counsels  and 
his  labors  with  several  prominent  persons  whom  we  had 
failed  to  reach.  He  was  selected  as  one  of  the  nine  to 
maintain  our  rights  before  the  legislative  committee, 
and  avert  the  wrong  that  seemed  impending  over  us  from 
the  unhappy  suggestions  in  the  speech  of  Governor 
Everett. 

The  Doctor  evidently  felt  very  deeply  the  grave  impor 
tance  of  the  occasion.  He  commenced  his  speech  with 
some  profound  remarks  upon  the  rights  of  man  and  the 
spirit  and  purpose  of  our  republican  institutions,  and 
then  proceeded  to  point  out  the  fearful  encroachments, 
that  had  been  made  on  the  fundamental  principles  of  our 
Republic  by  slaveholders  and  their  Northern  partisans. 
"  And  now,"  said  he,  "  they  are  calling  upon  the  North 
ern  legislatures  to  abolish  the  Abolitionists  by  law.  We 
do  not  apprehend,  gentlemen,  that  you  will  recom 
mend,  or  that  our  General  Court  will  enact,  such  a  law. 
But  we  do  apprehend  that  you  may  advise,  and  the  Leg 
islature  may  pass,  resolutions  severely  censuring  the  Ab 
olitionists.  Against  this  measure  we  most  earnestly 
protest.  We  think  its  effects  would  be  worse  than  those 
of  the  penal  law.  The  outrages  committed  in  this  city 
upon  the  liberty  of  speech,  the  mobs  in  Boston  last  Oc 
tober,  were  doubtless  countenanced  and  incited  by  the 
great  meeting  of  August,  in  Faneuil  Hall.  Now,  gen 
tlemen,  would  not  similar  consequences  follow  the  ex- 
7  M 


194  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

pression  by  the  Legislature  of  a  similar  condemnation  7 
Would  not  the  mobocrats  again  undertake  to  execute 
the  informal  sentence  of  the  General  Court  1  Would 
they  not  let  loose  again  their  bloodhounds  upon  us  1 " 

"  Stop,  sir  !  "  cried  Mr.  Lunt.  "  You  may  not  pursue 
this  course  of  remark.  It  is  insulting  to  the  committee 
and  to  the  Legislature  which  they  represent." 

Dr.  Follen  sat  down,  and  an  emotion  of  deep  displeas 
ure  evidently  passed  through  the  crowd  of  witnesses. 

I  sprang  to  my  feet  and  remonstrated  with  Mr.  Lunt. 
Mr.  Loring  and  Mr.  Goodell  also  expressed  their  surprise 
and  indignation  at  his  course.  But  it  was  of  no  avail. 
He  would  not  consent  that  Dr.  Follen  should  proceed  to 
point  out  what  we  considered  the  chief  danger  to  be 
guarded  against.  We  therefore  declined  to  continue  our 
interview  with  the  committee ;  and  gave  them  notice  that 
we  should  appeal  to  the  Legislature  for  permission  to 
present  and  argue  our  case  in  our  own  way  before  them, 
or  before  another  committee. 

THE   GAG-LAW.  — SECOND  INTERVIEW. 

We  left  the  committee  very  much  dissatisfied  with 
the  treatment  we  had  received  from  Mr.  Lunt  and  the 
majority  of  his  associates.  Hon.  Ebenezer  Moseley  was 
an  honorable  exception.  From  the  first  he  had  treated 
us  in  the  most  fair  and  gentlemanly  manner.  And  at 
the  last  he  protested  against  the  procedure  of  the  Chair 
man. 

We  forthwith  drew  up,  and  the  next  morning  present 
ed,  a  memorial  to  the  Legislature,  intimating  that  we 
had  not  been  properly  treated  by  the  committee,  and 
asking  that  our  right  to  be  heard  might  be  recognized , 
and  that  we  might  be  permitted  to  appear  and  show  our 
reasons  in  full,  why  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts 


THE   GAG-LAW.  195 

should  not  enact  any  penal  law,  nor  pass  any  resolutions 
condemning  Abolitionists  and  antislavery  societies.  The 
remonstrance  was  read  in  both  branches  of  the  Legisla 
ture  and  referred  to  the  same  committee,  with  instruc 
tions  to  hear  us  according  to  our  request. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  8th,  therefore,  we  met  the 
committee  again  in  the  Hall  of  the  Representatives.  The 
reports  which  had  gone  forth  of  our  first  interview  had 
so  interested  the  public,  that  the  house  was  now  quite 
filled  with  gentlemen  and  ladies,  many  of  whom  had 
never  before  shown  any  sympathy  with  the  antislavery 
reform. 

It  was  intended  that  Dr.  Follen  should  address  the 
committee  first,  beginning  just  where  he  had  been,  on 
the  4th,  so  rudely  commanded  by  Mr.  Lunt  to  leave 
off,  and  that  he  should  press  home  that  part  of  his  argu 
ment  which  we  all  deemed  so  important.  But  he  was 
detained  from  the  meeting  until  a  later  hour.  It  de 
volved  upon  me,  therefore,  to  commence.  I  confined 
my  remarks  to  two  points.  First,  I  contended  that  our 
publications  were  not  incendiary,  not  intended  nor  adapt 
ed  to  excite  the  oppressed  to  insurrection.  Secondly,  I 
assured  the  committee  that,  whatever  they  might  think 
of  the  character  of  our  publications,  we  had  never  sent 
them  to  the  slaves  nor  to  the  colored  people  of  the 
South,  and  gave  them  our  reasons  for  having  refrained 
so  to  do. 

Samuel  E.  Sewall,  Esq.,  then  made  a  somewhat  ex 
tended,  but  very  close  legal  and  logical  argument  against 
the  demands  of  the  slaveholding  States,  —  "  arrogant, 
insolent  demands,"  as  he  called  them.  "To  yield  to 
them  would  be  to  subvert  the  foundations  of  our  civil 
liberties,  and  make  it  criminal  to  obey  the  laws  of  God, 
and  follow  the  example  of  Jesus  Christ."  His  excellent 
speech  evidently  made  an  impression  upon  the  commit- 


196  ANTISL  AVERT   CONFLICT. 

tee  as  well  as  his  larger  audience.  But  I  have  not  room 
here  for  such  an  abstract  of  it  as  I  should  like  to  give. 

While  Mr.  Sewall  was  speaking  Dr.  Follen  came  in, 
and  when  he  had  ended  the  Doctor  arose  and  commenced 
by  showing  very  clearly  that  we  Abolitionists  were  ac 
cused  of  crime  by  the  legislatures  of  several  of  our  South 
ern  States,  and  that  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts  had 
indorsed  the  accusation,  because  we  had  exercised  in 
the  cause  of  humanity  that  liberty  of  speech  and  of 
the  press  which  was  guaranteed  to  us  in  the  Constitu 
tion  of  our  Republic,  not  less  explicitly  than  in  the  fun 
damental  law  of  this  State.  "  We  have  endeavored  by 
persuasion,  by  argument,  by  moral  and  religious  appeals 
to  urge  upon  the  nation,  and  especially  upon  our  South 
ern  brethren,  the  necessity  of  freeing  themselves  from 
the  sin,  the  evils,  and  the  shame  of  slavery.  You  can 
not  punish  or  censure  freedom  of  speech  in  Abolitionists, 
without  preparing  the  way  to  censure  it  in  any  other 
class  of  citizens  who  may  for  the  moment  be  obnoxious 
to  the  majority.  A  penal  enactment  against  us  is  less 
to  be  dreaded  than  condemnatory  resolutions  ;  for  these 
are  left  to  be  enforced  by  Judge  Lynch  and  his  minions, 
and  I  must  say,  as  I  said  the  other  day  — 

"  I  call  you  to  order,  sir,"  said  Mr.  Lunt,  with  great 
emphasis.  "  This  is  not  respectful  to  the  committee." 

Dr.  Follen  replied,  "I  am  not  conscious  of  having 
said  anything  disrespectful  to  the  committee.  I  beg  to 
be  informed  in  what  I  am  out  of  order." 

Mr.  Lunt  replied,  "Your  allusion  to  mobs,  for  which  you 
were  called  to  order  at  our  first  interview,  is  not  proper.'' 

"  Am  I  then  to  understand,"  said  Dr.  Follen,  "  that 
deprecating  mobs  is  disrespectful  to  this  committee  1 " 

Mr.  Moseley,  one  of  the  committee,  here  spoke  with 
much  feeling ;  said  he  dissented  wholly  from  the  action 
of  the  Chairman.  "  I  see  nothing  in  the  allusion  to 


THE   GAG-LAW.  197 

mobs  disrespectful  to  the  committee  or  the  Legislature ; 
and  I  consider  Dr.  Follen  entirely  in  order." 

Some  discussion  ensued.  Two  others  of  the  com 
mittee,  making  a  majority,  silently  assented  to  the  opin 
ion  of  Mr.  Lunt.  So  it  was  decided  that  the  Doctor 
was  out  of  order,  and  must  not  allude  to  mobs. 

Here  I  called  the  attention  of  Mr.  Lunt  to  the  memo 
rial,  in  answer  to  which  we  were  permitted  by  the  Leg 
islature  to  appear  before  the  committee,  and  they  were 
instructed  to  hear  us.  "  It  seemed,  on  the  fourth  in 
stant,  that  the  Chairman  considered  that  we  came  here 
by  his  grace  to  exculpate  ourselves  from  the  charges 
alleged  against  us  by  the  Legislatures  of  several  of  the 
Southern  States ;  and  that  we  were  not  to  be  permitted 
to  express  our  anxious  apprehensions  of  the  effects  of 
any  acts  by  our  Legislature  intended  to  gratify  the 
wishes  of  those  States.  In  order,  therefore,  that  we 
might  appear  before  you  in  the  exercise  of  our  riglit  as 
free  citizens,  we  have  appealed  to  the  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives,  and  have  received  their  permission 
so  to  do.  Dr.  Follen  was  setting  before  you  what  we 
deem  the  most  probable  and  most  serious  evil  to  be  ap 
prehended  from  any  condemnatory  resolutions  which  the 
Legislature  might  be  induced  to  pass ;  and  if  he  is  not 
permitted  to  press  this  upon  your  consideration  our  in 
terview  with  the  committee  must  end  here."  Mr.  Lunt 
then  consulted  with  his  associates  and  intimated  that 
Dr.  Follen  might  proceed.  He  did  so,  and  having  re 
ferred  to  the  disastrous  influence  of  the  great  meeting  in 
Faneuil  Hall,  August,  1835,  and  of  the  condemnatory 
resolutions  there  passed,  he  showed  clearly  that  far 
greater  outrages  upon  the  property  and  persons  of  Abo 
litionists  would  be  likely  to  follow  the  passage  of  similar 
resolutions  by  the  Legislature  of  the  Commonwealth. 

Rev.   William  Goodell  then  arose  and  made  a  most 


198  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

able  and  eloquent  speech.  He  ignored  for  the  time  be 
ing  all  the  personal  dangers  and  private  wrongs  of  the 
Abolitionists;  he  set  aside  for  the  moment  the  consid 
eration  of  everything  else  but  the  imminent  peril  that 
seemed  to  be  impending  over  the  very  life  of  liberty  in 
our  country.  "  For  what,  Mr.  Chairman,"  said  he,  "  are 
Abolitionists  accused  by  the  Southern  States,  and  our 
own  Legislature  called  upon  to  condemn  them]  For 
nothing  else  but  exercising  and  defending  the  inalienable 
rights  of  the  people.  What  have  we  said  that  is  not 
said  in  your  Declaration  of  Independence  1  and  why  are 
we  censured  for  carrying  into  practice  what  others  have 
been  immortalized  as  patriots  for  writing  and  adopting  1 
In  censuring  us  you  censure  the  Father  of  our  Country. 
I  turn  to  the  portrait  of  Washington  as  it  looks  upon  us 
in  this  hall,  and  remind  you  how  he  declared  that  he 
earnestly  desired  to  see  the  time  when  slavery  should  be 
abolished.  For  saying  this,  and  urging  it  upon  our 
countrymen,  the  mandate  has  come  from  the  South  to 
stop  our  mouths,  and  we  are  here  to  avert  the  sentence 
our  own  Legislature  is  called  upon  to  pronounce  upon 
us."  Mr.  Goodell  then  went  on  to  quote  the  strongest 
antislavery  sentiments  uttered  by  President  Jefferson, 
Chief  Justice  John  Jay,  and  Hon.  William  Pinckney,  a 
distinguished  member  of  the  Legislature  of  Maryland, 
the  last  in  stronger  language  of  condemnation  than  ever 
issued  from  an  antislavery  press.  "  Shall  the  men  of 
the  South  speak  thus,  and  we  be  compelled  to  hold  our 
peace?  Mr.  Chairman,  in  this  hour  of  my  country's 
danger,  I  should  disdain  to  stand  here  pleading  for  my 
personal  security.  In  behalf  of  my  fellow-citizens 
throughout  the  land,  I  implore  the  Legislature  of  this 
Commonwealth  to  pause  before  they  act  on  those  docu 
ments  of  the  South.  What  are  they]  A  demand  for 
the  unconditional  surrender  to  the  South  of  the  first 


THE   GAG-LAW.  199 

principles  of  your  Constitution,  the  surrender  of  your 
liberties.  It  is  a  blow  particularly  aimed  at  the  inde 
pendence  of  your  laboring  classes."  Mr.  Goodell  here 
quoted  the  declaration  of  Govemor  McDuffie  and  other 
distinguished  Southern  gentlemen,  distinctly  asserting 
the  doctrine  that  "  the  laboring  population  of  no  nation 
on  earth  are  entitled  to  liberty  or  capable  of  enjoying 
it."  "  Mr.  Chairman,  we  are  charged  with  aiming  at 
disunion,  because  we  seek  what  only  can  save  the  Union. 
I  charge  upon  those  who  promulgate  the  doctrines  on 
your  table,  a  deep  and  foul  conspiracy  against  the  liber 
ties  of  the  laboring  people  of  the  North,"  Mr.  Lunt 
here  interrupted  him. 

"  Mr.  Goodell,  I  must  interfere,"  he  said.  "  You  must 
not  charge  other  States  with  a  foul  conspiracy,  nor  treat 
their  public  documents  with  disrespect."  Mr.  Goodell 
replied  :  "  Something  may  be  pardoned  to  a  man  when 
he  speaks  for  the  liberties  of  a  nation."  Mr.  Lunt  con 
tinued  :  "  The  documents  emanating  from  other  States 
are  required  by  our  Federal  Constitution  to  be  received 
with  full  faith  and  credit  here."  "Certainly,  sir,"  re 
sponded  Mr.  GoodelL  "  I  wish  them  to  be  regarded  as 
official,  accredited  documents,  and  I  have  referred  to  an 
accredited  document  from  the  Governor  of  South  Caro 
lina,  in  which  he  says,  that  the  laborers  of  the  North 
are  incapable  of  understanding  or  enjoying  freedom,  tJiat 
liberty  in  a  free  State  best  subsists  with  slavery,  and  that 
the  laborers  must  be  reduced  to  slavery,  or  the  laws  cannot 
be  maintained.  This,  sir,  is  also  a  document  entitled  to 
full  faith  and  credit,  —  holding  up  a  report  of  the  doings 
of  the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina,  in  which  they  de 
clared  an  entire  accordance  with  Governor  McDuffie  in 
the  sentiments  expressed  in  his  message."  Mr.  Lunt 
here  interposed  with  great  warmth.  "  Stop,  sir  !  "  Mr. 
Goodell  stopped,  but  remained  standing.  "Sit  down, 


200  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

sir,"  said  Mr.  Lunt ;  "  the  committee  will  hear  no  more 
of  this."  Mr.  Goodell  said :  "  My  duty  is  discharged, 
Mr.  Chairman,  if  I  cannot  proceed  in  the  way  that  seems 
to  me  necessary  to  bring  our  case  properly  before  the 
committee  and  the  Legislature.  We  came  here  as  free 
men,  and  we  will  go  away  as  freemen  should."  Some 
one  in  the  vast  audience  that  had  been  watching  our 
proceedings  with  intensest  interest  cried  out,  "  Let  us 
go  quickly  lest  we  be  made  slaves."  I  here  made  one 
more  appeal  to  Mr.  Lunt.  "  Are  we,  sir,  to  be  again 
denied  our  right  of  being  heard  in  pursuance  of  our  me 
morial  to  the  Legislature  1 "  The  Chairman  intimated 
that  they  had  heard  enough. 

The  audience  here  began  to  leave  the  hall,  but  were 
arrested  by  a  voice  in  their  midst.  It  was  that  of  Dr. 
Gamaliel  Bradford,  not  a  member  of  the  Antislavery 
Society,  who  had  come  there  only  as  a  spectator,  but 
had  been  so  moved  by  what  he  had  witnessed  that  he 
pronounced  an  eloquent,  thrilling,  impassioned,  but  re 
spectful  appeal  in  favor  of  free  discussion.  I  wish  that 
I  could  spread  the  whole  of  it  before  my  readers.  So 
soon  as  he  sat  down  Mr.  George  Bond,  one  of  the  most 
prominent  merchants  and  estimable  gentlemen  of  Boston, 
expressed  a  desire  to  say  a  few  words  to  the  committee. 
"  I  am  not  a  petitioner  nor  an  Abolitionist,"  said  he  ; 
"  but,  though  opposed  to  some  of  the  measures  of  these 
antislavery  gentlemen,  I  hold  to  some  opinions  in  com 
mon  with  them.  If  under  these  circumstances  the  com 
mittee  will  permit,  I  beg  leave  to  offer  a  few  remarks." 
The  Chairman  preserved  silence  ;  but  another  member 
of  the  committee  intimated  to  Mr.  Bond  that  he  might 
proceed.  "  It  strikes  me,"  said  Mr.  Bond,  "  that  this  is 
a  subject  of  deep  and  vital  importance ;  and  I  fear  as  a 
citizen  that  the  manner  in  which  it  has  been  treated  by 
the  committee  will  produce  an  excitement  throughout 


THE   GAG-LAW.  201 

the  Commonwealth.  With  due  respect  to  the  committee, 
I  beg  leave  to  say  that,  from  the  little  experience  I  have 
had  in  legislative  proceedings,  it  is  not  the  practice  to 
require  of  persons,  appearing  before  a  committee,  a  strict 
conformity  to  rules.  They  are  usually  indulged  in  tell 
ing  their  own  story  in  their  own  way,  provided  it  be  not 
disrespectful.  I  have  certainly  heard  nothing  from  the 
gentlemen  of  the  Antislavery  Society  that  called  for  tho 
course  that  has  been  adopted.  It  does  seem  to  me  that 
some  of  the  committee  have  been  too  fastidious,  too 
hypercritical." 

Mr.  Lunt  here  broke  out  again.  "Be  careful,  sir, 
what  you  say.  The  committee  will  not  submit  to  it." 
Mr.  Bond  replied  :  "I  certainly  have  no  wish  to  say  any 
thing  unpleasant  to  the  committee,  but  I  cannot  help 
regretting  the  course  that  has  been  taken  to  withhold  a 
full  hearing  from  the  parties  interested.  They  came 
here  through  their  memorial,  which  had  been  received 
by  the  Legislature  and  referred  to  this  committee,  and  I 
expected  that  the  committee  would  have  allowed  them 
to  say  what  they  pleased,  using  proper  language.  If 
they  state  their  case  improperly,  it  will  injure  them  and 
not  the  committee.  I  may  be  wrong,  but  I  regret  to 
see  the  grounds  given  for  the  gentlemen  and  their  friends 
to  say  they  have  been  denied  a  hearing.  The  action  on 
this  question  here  is  of  immense  importance  in  the  influ 
ence  it  may  have,  not  only  upon  those  who  have  appeared 
before  the  committee,  but  upon  the  Legislature,  the  com 
munity,  the  Commonwealth,  and  the  whole  country." 
When  Mr.  Bond  had  closed,  instead  of  proffering  to  us  a 
further  hearing,  the  committee  broke  up  without  a  formal 
adjournment,  the  Chairman  immediately  retiring,  con 
scious,  as  it  seems  to  me  he  must  have  been,  of  the  very 
general  indignation  which  his  conduct  had  excited.  Just  as 
he  was  leaving,  Mr.  Moseley,  one  of  the  committee,  said  to 
9* 


202  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

him,  "  I  am  not  satisfied  with  your  course.  You  have 
been  wrong  from  the  beginning.  I  will  not  sit  again  on 
such  a  committee." 

The  large  audience  retired  from  the  hall  murmuring 
their  astonishment,  shame,  indignation  at  the  conduct 
of  the  Chairman.  Many  gentlemen  and  ladies,  who  had 
never  shown  us  favor  before,  came  to  assure  us  that 
they  had  been  led,  by  what  they  had  heard  and  seen 
that  afternoon,  to  take  a  new  view  of  the  importance  of 
the  great  reform  we  were  laboring  to  effect. 

Nothing,  however,  gratified  us  so  much  as  seeing  Dr. 
Channing  approach  Mr.  Garrison,  whom  until  then  he 
had  appeared  to  avoid,  shake  him  cordially  by  the  hand, 
and  utter  some  words  of  sympathy.  From  that  time 
until  his  death  the  larger  portion  of  his  publications 
were  upon  the  subject  of  slavery,  increasing  in  earnest 
ness  and  power  to  the  last. 

The  conduct  of  the  committee,  especially  the  Chair 
man,  was  severely  censured  next  day  in  the  Senate  by 
Hon.  Mr.  Whitmarsh,  and  other  members  of  that  body. 
Reports  of  our  interviews  were  published  and  repub- 
lished  throughout  the  Commonwealth,  and  called  out  from 
almost  every  part  of  it  condemnatory  comments.  Many 
were  brought  over  to  the  antislavery  faith,  and  our  party 
became  not  a  little  significant  in  the  estimation  of  the 
politicians.  Governor  Everett's  too  evident  inclination 
to  yield  to  the  insolent  demands  of  the  slaveholding  oli 
garchy  damaged  him  seriously  in  the  confidence  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  and,  if  I  remember  correctly,  at  the  very 
next  election  he  was  beaten  by  the  opposing  candidate, 
whose  sentiments  on  slavery  were  thought  to  be  more 
correct  than  his. 


HON.   JAMES   G.   BIRNEY.  203 


HON.  JAMES  G.  BIRNEY. 

Let  me  again  beg  my  readers  to  bear  in  mind,  that  I 
am  not  attempting  to  write  a  complete  history  of  the 
antislavery  conflict.  Many  individuals  rendered  essen 
tial  services  to  the  cause  in  different  parts  of  our  country 
whose  names  even  may  not  be  mentioned  on  any  of  my 
pages,  for  the  reason  that  I  had  little  or  no  personal  ac 
quaintance  with  them.  My  purpose  is  merely  to  give 
my  recollections  of  the  most  important  incidents  in  the 
progress  of  the  great  reform,  and  of  the  individuals 
whom  I  personally  knew  hi  connection  with  those  inci 
dents. 

Although  I  did  not  enjoy  a  very  intimate  acquaintance 
with  the  distinguished  gentleman  whose  name  stands  at 
the  head  of  this  article,  my  connection  with  him  was 
such  that  it  will  be  very  proper,  as  well  as  very  grateful 
to  me,  to  give  some  account  of  him  and  of  his  inesti 
mable  services. 

At  the  annual  meetings  of  the  American  Antislavery 
Society  in  New  York,  and  of  the  Massachusetts  Society 
in  Boston  in  May,  1835,  our  hearts  were  greatly  encour 
aged  and  our  hands  strengthened  by  the  presence  and 
eloquence  of  the  Hon.  James  G.  Birney,  then  of  Ken 
tucky,  lately  of  Alabama.  We  had  repeatedly  heard 
of  him  during  the  preceding  twelve  months,  and  of  his 
labors  and  sacrifices  in  the  cause  of  our  enslaved  country 
men.  As  I  said  injny  report  at  the  time,  all  were 
charmed  with  him.  He  was  mild  yet  firm,  cautious 
yet  not  afraid  to  speak  the  whole  truth,  candid  but  not 
compromising,  careful  not  to  exaggerate  in  aught,  and 
equally  careful  not  to  conceal  or  extenuate.  He  impart 
ed  much  valuable  information  and  animated  us  to  perse 
vere  in  our  work. 


204  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

Mr.  Birney  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  the  only  son 
of  a  wealthy  planter,  who  gave  him  some  of  the  best 
opportunities  that  our  country  then  afforded  for- acquir 
ing  a  thorough  classical,  scientific,  and  professional  edu 
cation,  to  which  were  added  the  advantages  of  extensive 
foreign  travel.  When  he  had  completed  his  preparations 
for  the  practice  of  the  law  he  opened  an  office  in  Danville, 
his  native  place,  and  married  a  Miss  McDowell,  of  Vir 
ginia.  Thus  he  was  allied  by  marriage  as  well  as  birth 
to  a  large  circle  of  prominent  slaveholders  in  two  States. 
Soon  after  he  removed  to  Huntsville,  Alabama,  where  he 
rapidly  rose  to  great  distinction  in  his  profession  and  in 
the  estimation  of  his  fellow-citizens.  He  was  elected 
Solicitor-General  of  the  State,  and  in  1828,  when  John 
Q.  Adams  was  nominated  for  the  Presidency,  Mr.  Birney 
was  chosen  by  the  Whig  party  one  of  the  Alabama 
Electors.  Moreover,  he  was  an  honored  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  church,  and  was  zealous  and  active  as  an 
elder  in  that  denomination.  I  make  these  statements 
to  show  that  Mr.  Birney  occupied  a  very  high  position, 
both  civil  and  ecclesiastical. 

He  had  been  accustomed  to  slavery  from  his  birth. 
So  he  purchased  a  cotton  plantation  near  Huntsville  and 
directed  the  management  of  it.  But  his  kind  heart  was 
ill  at  ease  in  view  of  the  condition  of  the  slaves.  He 
could  not  regard  them  as  brute  animals,  and  felt  that 
there  must  be  a  terrible  wrong  in  treating  them  as  if 
they  were.  He  gladly  entered  into  the  project  of  the 
Colonization  Society,  hoping  it  would  lead  ultimately  to 
the  deliverance  of  the  bondsmen.  He  became  so  inter 
ested  in  it  that  he  turned  from  his  legal  practice,  which 
had  become  very  lucrative,  that  he  might  discharge  the 
duties  of  General  Superintendent  of  the  Colonization 
Society  in  the  States  of  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana, 
Tennessee,  and  Arkansas.  He  travelled  extensively 


HON.  JAMES   G.   BIRNEY.  205 

throughout  those  States,  was  everywhere  treated  with 
respect,  and  had  abundant  opportunities  for  forming  an 
opinion  of  the  real  effect  of  the  Colonization  scheme  up 
on  the  institution  of  slavery.  He  saw  that  it  was  tend 
ing  to  perpetuate  rather  than  to  put  an  end  to  the  great 
iniquity. 

Towards  the  close  of  1833  Mr.  Birney  removed  back 
to  his  native  place,  that  he  might  be  near  and  minister 
to  the  comfort  of  his  aged  father.  He  returned  carrying 
with  him  his  new-formed  opinions  of  Colonization.  He 
found  a  few  who  had  come  to  feel,  with  him,  that  some 
thing  else  and  more  should  be  done  for  the  relief  of  the 
oppressed.  In  December  of  that  year  he  joined  them 
and  formed  the  "  Kentucky  Gradual  Emancipation  So 
ciety."  But  the  principles  of  it  did  not  long  satisfy 
him. 

Mr.  Garrison's  "  Thoughts  on  Colonization,"  published 
more  than  a  year  before  in  Boston,  had  reached-  that 
neighborhood,  and  probably  had  come  under  the  con 
sideration  of  Mr.  Birney.  It  contained  a  faithful  search 
ing  review  of  the  purposes,  the  spirit  and  tendency  of 
Colonization.  Soon  after,  the  famous  discussion  arose 
in  Lane  Seminary,  of  which  I  have  given  some  account 
on  a  previous  page,  and  which  resulted  in  an  eruption 
that  threw  eighty  "  live  coals "  in  as  many  directions 
over  the  country,  —  fervent  young  men,  who  went  dili 
gently  about,  kindling  up  the  minds  of  the  people  on  the 
question  of  immediate  emancipation. 

That  remarkable  young  man,  ThpofWpJ).  3^jj;  leader 
of  the  antislavery  party  in  Lane  Seminary,  visited  Mr. 
Birney,  and  found  him  ready  for  conversion,  if  not  al 
ready  a  convert  to  the  highest  antislavery  truth.  Their 
interviews  resulted  in  Mr.  Birney's  entire  conviction  that 
the  Colonization  plan  tended  to  uphold  rather  than  to 
subvert  slavery ;  and  that  immediate  emancipation, 


206  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

without   removal   from  their   homes,  was  the  right  of 
every  slave,  and  the  duty  of  every  slaveholder. 

Without  delay,  he  acted  iu  accordance  with  this  con 
viction.  He  addressed  an  admirable  letter  to  Rev.  Mr. 
Mills,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Kentucky  Coloni 
zation  Society,  announcing  that  he  must  no  longer  be 
considered  a  member  of  that  association,  and  stating,  in 
a  very  lucid  and  impressive  manner,  his  weighty  reasons 
for  disapproving  of,  and  feeling  impelled  to  oppose,  an  en 
terprise  in  which  he  had  taken  so  much  interest,  and  to 
which  he  had  devoted  so  much  time  and  labor.  Better 
than  this,  he  summoned  all  his  slaves  into  his  presence, 
acknowledged  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  great  wrong  in 
holding  them  as  his  property,  informed  them  that  he  had 
executed  deeds  of  manumission  for  each  and  all  of  them, 
and  that  henceforth  they  were  free  men,  free  women,  free 
children.  He  offered  to  retain  in  his  service  all  who  pre 
ferred  to  remain  with  him,  and  to  pay  them  fair  wages 
for  their  labor.  None  left  him,  and,  as  he  himself  told  me, 
they  afterwards  toiled  not  only  more  cheerfully  than  be 
fore,  but  more  effectively,  and  for  a  greater  number  of 
hours.  In  several  instances  he  had  been  impelled  to  go 
to  them  in  person,  and  insist  upon  their  "  hanging  up  the 
shovel  and  the  hoe."  In  the  fall  of  1834  he  addressed  a 
letter  to  the  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Synod,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Danville,  in  which  he  pressed  upon  them  the 
sinfulness  of  holding  their  fellow-beings  as  property,  and 
showed  them  the  true  Scripture  doctrine  respecting  slav 
ery.  He  also  visited  the  seat  of  government  during  the 
session  of  the  Kentucky  Legislature,  and  conversed  with 
many  members.  He  found  that  most  of  them  regarded 
slavery  as  an  evil  which  could  not  be  perpetual,  but  most 
of  them  recoiled  from  the  plan  of  immediate  emancipa 
tion. 

Convinced  that  this  was  the  vital  doctrine,  he  deter- 


HON.  JAMES   G.   BIRNEY.  207 

mined  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  disseminate  it  among  the 
people.  For  this  purpose  he  purchased  a  printing-press 
and  types,  and  engaged  a  man  to  print  for  him  at  Dan 
ville  a  paper  to  be  called  The  Philanthropist.  So  soon 
as  his  intention  became  known,  his  neighbors  roused 
themselves  to  prevent  the  execution  of  it.  While  he 
continued  a  slaveholder  and  in  favor  of  Colonization,  it 
was  proper  and  safe  enough  for  him  to  express  freely  his 
opinions.  But  when  he  became  an  immediate  emancipa 
tionist,  and  liberated  his  slaves,  he  was  regarded  as  a 
dangerous  man.  And  now  that  he  was  preparing  to  dis 
seminate  his  doctrines  through  the  press,  he  was  to  be 
denounced  and  silenced. 

On  the  12th  of  July,  1835,  the  slaveholders  of  his 
neighborhood  assembled  in  mass  meeting,  in  the  town  of 
Danville,  and  after  rousing  themselves  and  each  other  to 
the  right  pitch  of  madness,  they  addressed  a  letter  to 
Mr.  Birney,  vehemently  remonstrating  with  him,  and 
pledging  themselves  to  prevent  the  publication  of  his 
paper,  by  the  most  violent  means,  if  necessary.  Mr. 
Birney  respectfully  but  firmly  refused  to  yield  to  their 
demand,  assured  them  that  he  understood  the  rights  of 
an  American  citizen,  and  that  he  should  exercise  and  de 
fend  them.  However,  their  threats,  which  did  not  intimi 
date  him,  so  far  excited  the  apprehensions  of  his  printer 
that  he  utterly  refused  to  undertake  the  publication. 

When  the  report  reached  Alabama  that  Mr.  Birney  had 
become  an  immediate  Abolitionist,  had  renounced  the  Col 
onization  Society,  and  had  liberated  his  slaves,  most  of 
those  who  had  formerly  known  and  honored  him  there 
united  in  expressing  very  emphatically  their  displeasure, 
and  declaring  their  contempt  for  his  new  fanatical  opin 
ions.  The  Supreme  Court  of  that  State  expunged  his 
name  from  the  roll  of  attorneys  practising  at  its  bar. 
And  in  the  University  of  Alabama,  of  which  he  had  been 


208  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

a  most  useful  trustee,  several  literary  societies,  of  which 
he  had  beeu  an  honorary  member,  hastened  to  pass  reso 
lutions  expelling  him  from  their  bodies.  These  acts  con 
vinced  him  of  their  hatred,  but  not  of  his  error. 

Finding  that  he  could  not  get  his  paper  printed  in 
Danville,  he  removed  his  press  and  types  to  Cincinnati, 
in  order  that  he  might  publish  his  Philanthropist  as  near 
to  his  father's  home  and  his  native  State  as  possible,  and 
under  the  segis  of  Ohio,  whose  constitution  explicitly 
guarantees  to  her  citizens  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the 
press. 

But  he  had  not  got  himself  and  family  settled  in  Cin 
cinnati,  before  he  found  that  the  inhabitants  of  that  city 
were  so  swayed  by  Southern  influence  that  it  would  be 
useless  to  attempt  to  issue  a  paper  there,  opposed  to  slav 
ery  and  to  the  expatriation  of  the  free  colored  people. 
He  therefore  removed  twenty  miles  up  the  river  to  the 
town  of  New  Richmond,  where  the  dominant  influence 
was  in  the  hands  of  Quakers.  The  Philanthropist  was 
much  better  received  by  the  public  than  he  expected,  and 
was  so  generally  commended  for  the  excellent  spirit  with 
which  the  subject  of  slavery  was  discussed,  that  he 
thought  it  best  to  remove  his  press  back  to  Cincinnati. 
But  he  had  hardly  got  it  established  there  before  "  the 
gentlemen  of  property  and  standing "  bestirred  them 
selves  and  their  minions  to  the  determination  that  the 
incendiary  paper  "must  be  suppressed  by  all  means, 
right  or  wrong,  peaceably  or  forcibly."  Mr.  Birney  con 
tended  manfully,  nobly,  for  the  liberty  of  speech  and  of 
the  press.  He  met  his  opponents  in  public  and  in  pri 
vate,  refuted  their  arguments  and  exposed  the  fearful 
consequences  of  their  conduct,  if  persisted  in.  But  his 
facts,  his  logic,  and  his  eloquence  were  of  no  avail.  What 
had  not  been  reasoned  into  them  could  not  be  reasoned 
out  of  them.  His  opponents  were  fixed  in  a  foregone 


HON.   JAMES   G.   BIRNEY.  209 

conclusion  that  slavery  was  a  matter  with  which  the 
citizens  of  the  free  States  were  bound  not  to  meddle,  and 
were  made  more  impetuous  by  that  dislike  of  the  colored 
people,  which  was  intensified  by  the  consciousness  that 
they  were  living  witnesses  to  the  inconsistency,  cruelty, 
and  meanness  of  our  nation.  I  wish  I  had  room  for  a 
full  account  of  Mr.  Birney's  courageous  and  persistent 
defence  of  his  antislavery  opinions,  and  of  his  right  to 
publish  and  disseminate  them. 

Suffice  it  to  add  that,  on  the  evening  of  the  1st  of 
August,  1836,  Mr.  Bimey  having  gone  to  a  distant  town 
to  deliver  a  lecture,  large  numbers  of  persons,  among 
them  some  of  the  most  respectable  citizens  of  Cincinnati, 
went  to  the  office  of  The  Philanthropist,  demolished  or 
threw  into  the  streets  everything  they  found  there  ex 
cepting  the  printing-press.  That  they  dragged  to  the 
bank  of  the  Ohio,  half  a  mile  distant,  conveyed  it  in  a 
boat  to  the  middle  of  the  river  and  threw  it  in. 

In  the  fall  of  1837  Mr.  Birney  removed  to  New  York, 
and  for  two  years  or  more  rendered  inestimable  services 
as  one  of  the  Corresponding  Secretaries  of  the  American 
Antislavery  Society. 

While  there,  some  time  in  1839,  his  father  died,  leav 
ing  a  large  amount  of  property  in  lands,  money,  and 
slaves  to  him  and  his  only  sister,  Mrs.  Marshall.  Mr. 
Birney  requested  that  all  the  slaves,  twenty-one  in  num 
ber,  might  be  set  off  to  him  at  their  market  value,  as  a 
part  of  his  patrimony.  This  was  done.  He  immediate 
ly  wrote  and  executed  a  deed  manumitting  them  all. 
Thus  he  sacrificed  to  his  sense  of  right,  his  respect  fc/r 
humanity,  that  which  he  might  legally  have  retained  or 
disposed  of  as  property,  amounting  to  eighteen  or  twenty 
thousand  dollars.* 

This  act,  added  to  all  else  that  he  had  done  and  said 

*  See  Appendix. 


210  ANTISL AVERT  CONFLICT. 

in  the  cause  of  liberty,  and  the  invaluable  contributions 
from  his  pen,  and  the  noble  traits  of  character  that  were 
ever  manifest  in  all  his  deeds  and  words,  raised  Mr.  Birney 
to  the  highest  point  in  the  estimation  of  all  Abolitionists. 
When,  therefore,  they  had  become  weary  of  striving  to 
induce  one  or  the  other  of  the  political  parties  to  recog 
nize  the  rights  of  the  colored  population  of  the  country  ; 
when  they  had  found  that  neither  the  Whigs  nor  the 
Democrats  would  attempt  anything  for  the  relief  of  the 
millions  of  the  oppressed,  but  what  their  oppressors  ap 
proved  or  consented  to ;  when  thus  forced  to  the  con 
clusion  that  a  Third  Party  must  needs  be  formed  in  order 
to  compel  politicians  and  statesmen  to  heed  their  de 
mands  for  the  relief  of  suffering  outraged  millions  in  our 
land,  James  G.  Birney  was  unanimously  selected  to  be 
their  candidate  for  the  presidency.  He  unquestionably 
possessed  higher  qualifications  for  that  office  than  either 
of  the  candidates  of  the  other  parties.  But,  with  shame 
be  it  said,  he  had  too  much  faith  in  the  glorious  doctrine 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  in  the  declared 
purpose  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  to  suit 
the  depraved  policy  of  the  nation  in  1840.  In  that  year 
the  Liberty  party  gave  a  very  significant  number  of 
votes  for  Mr.  Birney.  And  again  in  1844  their  votes  for 
him  amounted  to  62,300.  These  votes,  if  given  for  Mr. 
Clay,  as  they  would  have  been  had  he  been  true  to  "the 
inalienable  rights  of  man,"  would  have  secured  his  elec 
tion  by  a  majority  of  23,1 19.  This  number  was  too  large 
to  be  ignored.  It  showed  that  the  Abolitionists  held 
the  balance  of  power  between  the  Whigs  and  the  Dem 
ocrats.  Their  opinions  and  wishes  thenceforward  were 
more  respected  by  politicians  and  their  partisans.  Vari 
ous  attempts  were  made  to  conciliate  them,  which,  after 
several  political  abortions,  gave  birth  to  the  Republican 
party.  This  party,  we  hope  and  trust,  will  be  guided  or 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS.  211 

forced  to  pursue  such  measures  as  will  not  only  abolish 
slavery,  but  raise  the  colored  population  of  our  country 
to  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  privileges  and  the  exercise  of 
all  the  prerogatives  of  American  citizens. 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS. 

Although  this  gentleman  —  so  prominent  for  more 
than  half  a  century  among  our  American  statesmen  and 
scholars — was  not  a  member  of  our  Anti slavery  Society, 
he  rendered  us  and  our  cause,  in  one  respect,  a  most 
important  service.  And  as  I  have  some  interesting  rec 
ollections  of  him,  a  few  pages  devoted  to  them  will  be 
german  to  my  plan. 

In  January,  1835,  a  petition  was  committed  to  Mr. 
Adams,  signed  by  more  than  a  hundred  women  of  his 
congressional  district,  praying  for  the  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia.  He  presented  it  and  moved 
its  reference  to  a  select  committee.  Instantly  several 
^Southern  representatives  sprang  to  their  feet  and  vehe 
mently  opposed  even  the  reception  of  it.  They  insisted 
that  Congress  ought  not  to  receive  such  petitions,  adapt 
ed  as  they  were,  if  not  intended,  to  create  an  excitement, 
and  wound  the  feelings  of  members  from  the  slavehold- 
ing  States.  Mr.  Adams  urged  the  reception  of  the  pe 
tition  with  earnestness  and  eloquence,  reminding  his 
opponents  that  the  feelings  of  his  constituents,  and  of 
many  of  the  people  of  the  non-slaveholding  States,  were 
deeply  wounded  by  being  held  in  any  way  responsible  for 
the  continuance  of  such  a  system  of  oppression  as  they 
considered  slavery.  No  right  of  the  people,  he  said, 
could  be  more  vital,  or  should  be  held  as  more  sacred, 
than  the  right  of  petition,  —  the  right  to  implore  their 
rulers  to  relieve  them  of  any  unnecessary  burden,  or  to 
correct  what  seemed  to  them  a  grievous  wrong.  He  be- 


212  ANTISLAVEEY   CONFLICT. 

sought  the  representatives  of  the  American  people  to 
show  their  respect  for  the  right  of  petition  by  receiving 
the  paper  he  now  presented.  If  there  were  any  expres 
sions  in  the  language  of  this  petition  disrespectful  or  im 
proper,  let  the  signers  of  it  be  reproved.  It  might  be 
easy,  he  added,  to  show  that  this  prayer  of  his  constitu 
ents  ought  not  to  be  granted,  but  that  was  no  reason  for 
refusing  to  hear  their  request.  To  petition  is  a  right 
guaranteed  to  every  one  by  the  Constitution,  of  our  Ke- 
public,  —  yes,  a  right  inherent  in  the  constitution  of  man, 
and  Congress  is  not  authorized  to  deny  it  or  to  abridge 
it.  Such  was  the  effect  of  his  speech  that  the  petition 
was  received.  But  it  was  immediately  laid  on  the  table. 

Again  in  January,  1837,  Mr.  Adams  offered  a  petition 
of  the  same  tenor,  signed  by  a  hundred  and  fifty  women. 
Forthwith  several  Southern  members  passionately  ob 
jected  to  the  reception  of  it.  Mr.  Adams  planted  him 
self  as  firmly  as  before  in  defence  of  the  right  of  petition. 
He  charged  upon  the  opposers  that  they  were  violating 
most  fearfully  the  federal  Constitution,  which  they  had 
sworn  to  support.  He  besought  the  House  not  to  give 
its  countenance,  its  sanction,  to  the  violent  assaults 
which  had  been  made  in  our  country  within  the  last 
eighteen  months  upon  the  freedom  of  the  press  and  the 
liberty  of  speech,  by  denying  the  still  more  fundamental 
right,  —  the  right  of  petition  ;  and  this  "  to  a  class  of 
citizens  as  virtuous  and  pure  as  the  inhabitants  of  any 
section  of  the  United  States." 

A  violent  debate  ensued,  in  which  Mr.  Adams  main 
tained  his  part  with  so  much  fortitude,  dignity,  and  force 
of  argument  that  the  petition  was  received  by  a  large 
majority.  I  am  sorry  to  add  that  it  was  soon  after 
laid  on  the  table  by  a  majority  almost  as  large.  And  a 
few  days  afterwards,  on  the  18th  of  January,  1837,  the 
House  of  Representatives  passed  this  infamous  resolution  : 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS.  213 

"That  all  petitions  relating  to  slavery,  without  being 
printed  or  referred,  shall  be  laid  on  the  table,  and  no 
action  shall  be  had  thereon."  This  resolution,  intended 
to  shut  the  door  of  legislative  justice  and  mercy  against 
millions  of  the  most  cruelly  oppressed  people  on  earth, 
was  passed  in  the  Congress  of  these  United  States  by  a 
vote  of  139  ayes  to  96  nays. 

Petitions  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia  had  been  sent  to  Mr.  Adams  and  to  other 
members  of  Congress,  from  various  parts  of  the  country. 
For  it  was  the  feeling  of  Abolitionists  everywhere  that 
we  were  all,  in  some  measure,  directly  responsible  for  the 
continuance  of  slavery  in  that  District,  over  which  Con 
gress  had  then,  and  has  now,  exclusive  jurisdiction. 
Seeing  how  such  petitions  were  to  be  spurned,  by  the 
advice  of  the  managers  of  the  Antislavery  Society,  I  ad 
dressed  a  letter  to  Mr.  Adams,  proposing  that  thereafter 
our  petitions  should  be  "  for  the  removal  of  the  national 
capital  to  some  place  north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line." 
He  replied  that  nothing  would  be  gained  by  such  a 
change.  Petitions  so  worded,  coming  from  Abolitionists, 
would  be  treated  with  the  same  contempt.  And  he 
thought  it  better  to  persist  in  demanding  the  abolition 
of  slavery  in  the  District,  and  contend  for  the  right  of 
petition  on  that  issue. 

Nothing  daunted  by  the  high-handed  measure  of  Janu 
ary  18th,  Mr.  Adams,  on  the  6th  of  the  following  month, 
announced  to  the  Speaker  that  he  held  in  his  hand  a  pe 
tition  which  purported  to  come  from  a  number  of  slaves, 
without,  however,  stating  what  it  prayed  for.  Before 
presenting  it,  he  wished  to  be  informed  by  the  Speaker 
whether  such  a  paper  would  come  under  the  order  of 
the  18th  ult.  Without  waiting  for  the  decision,  several 
slaveholders  rose  in  quick  succession  and  poured  out 
their  astonishment,  their  indignation,  their  wrath  at  the 


214  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

effrontery  of  the  man  who  could  propose  to  offer  such  a 
petition,  —  a  petition  from  slaves  !  One  said  it  was  so 
gross  an  insult  to  the  House  that  the  paper  ought  to  be 
taken  and  burnt.  Another  insisted  that  the  representa 
tive  from  Massachusetts  deserved  the  severest  censure, 
yes,  that  he  ought  to  be  immediately  brought  to  the  bar 
of  the  House  and  reproved  by  the  Speaker.  Others  de 
manded  that  Mr.  Adams  should  be  forthwith  expelled 
from  his  seat  with  those  he  had  so  grossly  insulted. 

Amidst  this  storm  Mr.  Adams  remained  as  little 
moved  as  "  the  house  that  was  founded  upon  a  rock." 
When  it  had  spent  its  rage  enough  for  a  human  voice  to 
be  heard,  the  brave  "old  man  eloquent "  rose  and  said  : 
"Mr.  Speaker,  to  prevent  further  consumption  of  the 
time  of  the  House,  I  deem  it  my  duty  to  request  the 
members  to  modify  their  several  resolutions  so  that  they 
may  be  in  accordance  with  the  facts.  I  did  not  present 
the  petition.  I  only  informed  the  Speaker  that  I  held 
in  my  hand  a  paper  purporting  to  be  a  petition  from 
slaves,  and  asked  if  such  a  petition  would  come  under 
the  general  order  of  January  18th.  I  stated  distinctly 
that  I  should  not  send  the  paper  to  the  table  until  that 
question  was  decided.  This  is  one  fact,  and  one  of  the 
resolutions  offered  to  the  House  should  be  amended  to 
accord  with  it. 

"  Another  gentleman  alleged  in  his  resolution  that  the 
paper  I  hold  is  a  petition  from  slaves,  praying  for  the 
abolition  of  slavery.  Now,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  is  not  the 
fact.  If  the  House  should  choose  to  hear  this  paper 
read  they  would  learn  that  it  is  a  petition  the  reverse 
of  what  the  resolution  states  it  to  be.  If,  therefore,  the 
gentleman  from  Alabama  still  shall  choose  to  call  me  to 
the  bar  of  the  House,  he  will  have  to  amend  his  resolu 
tion  by  stating  in  it  that  my  crime  has  been  attempting 
to  introduce  a  petition  from  slaves,  praying  that  slavery 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS.  215 

may  not  be  abolished,  —  precisely  that  which  the  gentle 
man  desires." 

A  variety  of  absurd  and  incoherent  resolutions  were 
proposed,  and  as  many  abusive  speeches  were  made, 
after  which  the  following  were  adopted :  "  Resolved, 
That  this  House  cannot  receive  the  said  petition  without 
disregarding  its  own  dignity,  the  rights  of  a  large  class 
of  citizens  of  the  South  and  West,  and  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States."  Yeas,  160.  Nays,  35.  "Re 
solved,  That  slaves  do  not  possess  the  right  of  petition 
secured  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  by  the  Con 
stitution."  Yeas,  162.  Nays,  18. 

None  of  the  Northern  representatives  interposed  to 
aid  Mr.  Adams  in  the  conflict,  excepting  only  Messrs. 
Lincoln  and  Gushing,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Mr.  Evans, 
of  Maine.  These  gentlemen  defended  his  positions  with 
distinguished  ability.  But  the  "old  man  eloquent"  was 
a  host  in  himself,  —  a  match  for  all  who  rose  up  against 
him.  Through  the  whole  of  the  unparalleled  excite 
ment  he  behaved  with  exemplary  equanimity  and  admi 
rable  self-possession.  "  His  speech,  in  vindication  of  his 
cause,"  said  Mr.  Garrison,  "  was  the  hewing  of  Agag  in 
pieces  by  the  hand  of  Samuel."  His  exposure  of  the 
vice  and  licentiousness  of  slaveholding  communities  was 
unsparing.  His  sarcasms  were  as  cutting  as  the  sur 
geon's  knife.  His  rebukes  were  terrible.  He  contended 
that  there  was  not  a  word,  not  an  intimation  in  the 
Constitution,  excluding  petitions  from  slaves.  "  The 
right  of  petition,"  said  he,  "  God  gave  to  the  whole 
human  race  when  he  made  them  men,  —  the  right  of 
prayer,  —  the  right  of  those  who  need  to  ask  a  favor  of 
those  who  can  bestow  it.  It  belongs  to  humanity ;  it 
does  not  depend  upon  the  condition  of  the  petitioners. 
It  belongs  to  the  wronged,  the  destitute,  the  wretched. 
Those  who  most  need  relief  of  any  kind  have  the  best 


21 G  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

right  to  petition  for  it,  enslaved  men  more  than  all  others. 
Did  the  gentleman  from  South  Carolina  think  he  could 
frighten  me  by  his  threat  of  a  grand  jury  ?  Let  me  tell 
him  he  mistook  his  man  ;  I  am  not  to  be  frightened  from 
the  discharge  of  a  duty  by  his  indignation,  nor  by  all  the 
grand  juries  in  the  universe/  Mr.  Speaker,  I  never  was 
more  serious  in  any  moment  of  my  life.  I  never  acted 
under  a  more  solemn  sense  of  duty.  What  I  have  done 
I  should  do  again  under  the  same  circumstances  if  it 
were  to  be  done  to-morrow." 

For  this  dignified,  persistent,  heroic  defence  of  the 
right  of  petition  Mr.  Adams  deserved  the  gratitude  of 
all  the  suffering,  and  those  who  desired  their  relief,  —  of 
the  enslaved  and  those  who  were  laboring  for  their  re 
demption.  But  in  the  course  of  the  debate  he  said, 
"It  is  well  known  to  all  the  members  of  this  house  that, 
from  the  day  I  entered  this  hall  to  the  present  moment, 
I  have  invariably,  here  and  elsewhere,  declared  my  opin 
ion  to  be  adverse  to  the  prayer  of  petitions  which  call 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 
I  have,  however,  uniformly  insisted,  and  do  insist,  that 
such  petitions  ought  to  be  respectfully  received,  duly 
considered,  and  our  reasons  given  for  refusing  to  grant 
them." 

Such  a  declaration  from  the  champion  of  our  peti 
tions,  it  will  readily  be  believed,  disconcerted  us  Aboli 
tionists  not  a  little.  Some  denounced  him.  Many 
thought  he  certainly  ought  not  to  be  returned  to  Con 
gress  again. 

I  was  then  one  of  his  constituents,  living  about  thir 
teen  miles  from  his  residence.  I  was  as  much  discon 
certed  as  any  were  by  Mr.  Adams's  opposition  to  the 
prayer  of  our  petition,  and  could  not  rest  without  hear 
ing  from  himself  his  reasons  for  that  opposition.  Ac 
cordingly,  soon  after  his  return  to  Quincy,  in  the  sum- 


JOHN  QUINCY   ADAMS.  217 

mer  of  1837,  I  called  at  his  house.  Ho  received  me 
graciously,  and,  on  being  told  what  was  the  object  of  my 
visit,  he  thanked  me  for  coming  to  himself  to  learn  what 
were  the  principles  by  which  he  endeavored  to  govern 
his  conduct  as  a  member  of  the  National  Legislature, 
and  what  the  reasons  for  the  opinion  he  held  respecting 
the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  by 
an  act  of  Congress.  "You  cannot  doubt,"  said  he, 
"  that  I  desire  the  abolition  of  slavery  there,  and  every 
where,  as  much  as  you  or  any  Abolitionist  desires  it.  I 
am  ready  to  do  all  that  I  think  can  be  done  legally  to 
exterminate  that  great  wrong,  that  alarming  evil,  that 
dark  shame  from  our  country.  I  shall  ever  withstand 
any  plan  for  the  extension  of  slavery  in  any  direction  an 
inch  beyond  the  limits  within  which  unhappily  it  ex 
isted  at  the  formation  of  our  Union.  I  have  repeatedly 
declared  myself  at  any  time  ready  to  go  for  the  most 
stringent  prohibition  of  our  interstate  slave-trade,  put 
ting  it  under  the  same  ban  with  the  foreign  slave-trade.* 
But,  sir,  the  citizens  of  the  District  of  Columbia  are  in 
an  anomalous  condition,  —  a  condition  not  to  be  recon 
ciled  with  one  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  our 
democratic  institutions.  They  are  governed  by  lawrs  en 
acted  by  a  Legislature  in  which  they  have  no  represen 
tative,  and  to  the  enactment  of  which  they  have  given 
no  consent.  Whenever,  therefore,  I  am  called  upon  to 
act  as  a  legislator  for  the  District  of  Columbia,  I  feel 
myself  to  be  all  the  more  bound  in  honor  to  act  as  if  I 
were  a  representative  chosen  by  the  people  of  that  Dis 
trict,  that  is,  to  act  in  accordance  with  what  I  know  to 

*  On  that  occasion,  or  another,  I  am  not  sure  which,  Mr.  Adams  an 
nounced  another  very  pregnant  opinion  which  lie  was  ready  to  main 
tain;  namely,  that  slaveholders  had  no  right  to  bring  or  send  their 
slaves  into  a  free  State,  and  keep  them  in  slavery  there;  but  that 
whenever  slaves  were  brought  into  any  State  where  all  the  people  were 
free,  they  became  partakers  of  that  freedom,  were  slaves  no  longer. 
10 


218  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

be  the  will  of  my  quasi  constituents.  Therefore,  until  I 
know  that  the  people  of  that  District  generally  desire 
the  abolition  of  slavery,  I  cannot  vote  for  it  consistently 
with  my  idea  of  the  duty  of  a  representative." 

Of  course  I  demurred  at  the  sufficiency  of  this  reason, 
and  urged  several  objections  to  it.  But  I  need  not  add 
a  stern  old  statesman  was  not  to  be  moved  from  his  alle 
giance  to  a  principle  which  he  said  had  governed  him 
through  his  long  political  life. 

I  left  him  dissatisfied  and  doubting  whether  I  could 
help  by  my  vote  to  re-elect  him  to  Congress.  I  con 
ferred  much  with  some  of  the  leading  Abolitionists  in 
his  district.  They  were  troubled  in  like  manner.  But 
we  could  think  of  no  man  who  could  be  elected  in  his 
place  that  would  go  further  in  opposition  to  slavery  than 
Mr.  Adams  had  gone,  or  could  utter  such  scathing  con 
demnation  of  our  American  despotism.  When,  too,  we 
reviewed  the  course  he  had  pursued  in  Congress  in  de 
fence  of  the  right  of  petition,  and  considered  his  vener 
able  age,  his  high  official  and  personal  character,  his  in 
timate  acquaintance  with  every  part  of  the  history  of 
our  country,  his  unequalled  adroitness  in  the  conduct 
of  a  legislative  debate,  the  insults  and  abuse  he  had  en 
dured  in  Congress,  because  of  his  words  and  acts  bearing 
upon  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  his  perfect  fearlessness 
in  the  midst  of  the  angry,  violent,  bullying  slaveholders, 
we  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  would  be  most  unjust, 
ungrateful,  and  unwise  in  Abolitionists  to  withhold  their 
support  from  Mr.  Adams.  We  determined  rather  to 
rally  about  him. 

And  first  we  thought  it  would  be  becoming  in  his  con 
stituents  to  give  some  public  and  emphatic  expression 
of  their  high  and  grateful  appreciation  of  his  faithful 
ness  and  heroic  courage,  in  advocating  and  maintaining 
the  sacred  right  of  petition.  Accordingly,  we  conferred 


JOHN  QUINCY   ADAMS.  219 

•with  the  prominent  members  of  the  Whig  party  in  his 
district,  who,  after  some  hesitation,  agreed  to  unite  with 
us  in  calling  a  delegated  convention  to  consider  the 
alarming  assaults  that  had  been  made  in  the  Congress 
of  the  nation  upon  the  right  of  petition,  and  the  noble 
defence  of  that  right  by  the  venerable  and  illustrious 
representative  of  the  twelfth  Congressional  District. 

Such  a  convention  was  held  in  Quincy,  on  the  23d  of 
August,  1837.  Seventeen  towns  were  represented  by 
delegates,  and  a  large  number  of  other  citizens  were 
present. 

Hon.  Thomas  Greenleaf,  of  Quincy,  was  chosen  Presi 
dent.  Hon.  Gushing  Otis,  of  South  Scituate,  and  Hon. 
John  B.  Turner,  of  Scituate,  Vice-Presidents.  Hon. 
Gershom  B.  Weston,  of  Duxbury,  and  Orrin  P.  Bacon, 
Esq.,  of  Dorchester,  Secretaries.  The  forenoon  was 
spent  in  listening  to  speeches  upon  the  sacredness  of 
the  right  of  petition,  the  assaults  made  upon  that  right 
in  the  Congress  of  our  nation,  and  the  persistent,  daunt 
less,  noble  defence  of  it  by  our  representative.  A  series 
of  appropriate  resolutions  was  passed  and  a  committee 
appointed  to  present  a  copy  of  them  to  Mr.  Adams,  and 
request  him  to  favor  the  convention  with  his  presence  in 
the  afternoon. 

We  reassembled  soon  after  2  p.  M.,  and  were  informed 
by  the  committee  that  Mr.  Adams  would  be  with  us 
at  three  o'clock.  There  was  no  other  business  before 
the  convention.  Several  topics  were  proposed  by  reso 
lutions  or  motions  that  were  ruled  out  of  order,  as  not 
german  to  the  purpose  of  the  meeting.  Members  were 
getting  impatient.  I  had  begun  to  fear  that  some  of 
our  ardent  ones  would  break  over  the  agreement  under 
which  the  convention  had  been  called.  Just  at  this 
crisis  our  excellent  friend,  Francis  Jackson,  of  Boston, 
came  into  the  hall.  His  face  was  radiant  with  his  mes- 


220  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

sage  of  glad  tidings.  He  came  straight  towards  me,  and 
placed  in  my  hand  a  paper  covered  with  lines,  in  the 
clear,  beautiful  handwriting  of  that  true  philanthropist, 
John  Pierpont,  with  which  I  was  familiar.  "A  Word  from 
a  Petitioner."  Nothing  could  have  been  more  timely, 
nothing  more  appropriate.  I  seized  it,  and  commenced 
reading  at  once  :  — 

"  What !  our  petitions  spurned !     The  prayer 

Of  thousands,  tens  of  thousands,  cast 
Unheard  beneath  your  Speaker's  chair! 

But  you  will  hear  us  first  or  last. 
The  thousands  that  last  year  ye  scorned 

Are  millions  now.    Be  warned !  Be  warned !  " 

The  reading  of  this  first  stanza  brought  down  the 
house  in  rapturous  applause.  It  struck  the  key-note  to 
which  the  feelings  of  all  were  attuned.  Every  stanza  was 
received  with  some  response  of  approval  or  delight. 
When  the  last  line  was  read  and  I  began  to  fold  the 
paper,  "  Encore  !  Encore ! !"  resounded  from  every  part  of 
the  hall.  So  I  read  the  admirable  poem  again  and  better 
than  the  first  time.  And  just  as  I  was  reading  the  last 
stanza,  Mr.  Adams  entered  the  convention  escorted  by 
the  committee.  Now  the  applauses  rose  in  deafening 
cheers.  "  Hurrah  !  Hurrah  !  !  Hurrah  !  !  !  the  hero 
comes  !  !  !  !  "  Three  times  three  and  then  again.  Mr. 
Adams  tottered  to  his  seat  next  the  President,  wellnigh 
overcome  with  emotion.  And  when  the  uproar  ceased 
and  he  rose  to  speak  he  seemed  for  the  moment  no 
more  "  the  old  man  eloquent."  He  could  not  utter  a 
•word.  He  stood  trembling  before  us.  But  the  moment 
passed,  and  the  orator  was  himself  .again.  His  first  words 
\vere  :  "  My  friends,  my  neighbors,  my  constituents, 
though  I  tremble  before  you,  I  hope,  I  trust  you  know 
that  I  have  never  trembled  before  the  enemies  of  your 
liberties,  your  sacred  rights."  Again  was  the  assembly 
thrown  into  an  uproar  of  applause,  which  did  not  die 


THE  ALTON   TRAGEDY.  221 

away  until  his  self-possession  had  entirely  revived.  And 
then  he  addressed  us  for  nearly  an  hour,  giving  a  very 
graphic  account  of  his  conflict  with  the  slaveholders  in 
Congress,  and  making  it  evident,  perhaps  more  evident 
to  us  than  to  himself,  that  some  of  them  were  deter 
mined  to  rule  or  else  to  ruin  our  Republic. 

By  order  of  the  convention  a  memorial  was  sent  to 
our  fellow-citizens  of  each  congressional  district  in  the 
Commonwealth,  commending  to  their  just  appreciation 
the  conduct  of  Mr.  Adams  in  defence  of  the  right  of 
petition,  and  praying  them  to  send  representatives  who 
would  be  equally  true,  faithful,  fearless  in  withstanding 
the  enemies  of  freedom. 

THE  ALTON  TRAGEDY. 

Rev.  Elijah  P.  Lovejoy  was  a  young  Presbyterian  min 
ister,  a  native  of  Maine,  who  soon  after  his  graduation 
from  college  settled  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  first  as  a 
school-teacher,  then  as  a  preacher,  and  lastly  as  the  edi 
tor  of  a  religious  paper.  In  all  these  offices  he  had 
commended  himself  to  the  respect  and  affectionate  re 
gards  of  a  large  circle  of  friends.  He  conducted  his 
paper  to  very  general  acceptance,  until  he  became  an 
Abolitionist.  An  awful,  a  diabolical  deed  perpetrated  in 
or  near  St.  Louis,  compelled  him  to  look  after  the  evil 
influences  which  could  have  prepared  any  individuals  to 
be  guilty  of  such  an  atrocity,  and  the  community  in 
which  it  was  done  to  tolerate  it. 

Some  time  in  the  latter  part  of  1836,  or  the  begin 
ning  of  1837,  a  slave  was  accused  of  a  heinous  crime 
(not  worse,  however,  than  many  white  men  had  been 
guilty  of).  He  was  tried  by  a  Lynch  Court,  over  which 
a  man  most  appropriately  named  Judge  Lawless  pre 
sided.  He  was  found  guilty,  sentenced  to  be  burned 


222  ANTISLAVERY   CO\7FLICT. 

alive,  and  actually  suffered  that  horrid  death  at  the 
hands  of  American  citizens,  some  of  whom  were  called 
"most  respectable."  Mr.  Lovejoy  faithfully  denounced 
the  horrible  outrage  as  belonging  to  the  Dark  Ages  and 
a  community  of  savages,  and  thenceforward  devoted  a 
portion  of  his  paper  to  the  exposure  of  the  sinfulness 
and  demoralizing  influence  of  slaveholding.  This  was 
not  long  endured.  His  printing-office  was  broken  up, 
his  press  destroyed,  and  he  was  driven  out  of  the  State 
of  Missouri.  He  removed  about  twenty  miles  up  the 
Mississippi  River  to  Alton,  Illinois,  and  there  commenced 
the  publication  of  a  similar  paper,  called  the  Alton  Ob 
server.  But  though  in  a  nominally  free  State,  he  was 
not  beyond  the  power  of  the  slaveholders.  The  people 
of  that  town,  obsequious  to  the  will  and  tainted  with 
the  spirit  of  their  Southern  and  Southwestern  neighbors, 
soon  followed  the  example  of  the  Missourians,  demol 
ished  his  printing-office  and  threw  his  press  into  the 
river. 

Mr.  Lovejoy  was  a  man  whose  determination  to  with 
stand  oppression  was  a  high  moral  principle  rather  than 
a  resentful  passion.  He  therefore  set  about,  with  calm 
resolution,  to  re-establish  his  office  and  his  paper.  In  this 
he  was  encouraged  and  assisted  by  the  sympathy  and  the 
contributions  of  some  of  the  best  people  in  Alton,  St. 
Louis,  and  that  region  of  country.  But  he  had  issued 
only  one  or  two  numbers  of  his  Observer,  before  the  ruf 
fians  again  fell  upon  his  establishment  and  destroyed  it. 

This  second  violation  of  his  rights,  in  a  State  pro 
fessedly  free,  brought  him  and  his  patrons  to  feel  that 
they  were  indeed  "  set  for  the  defence  "  of  the  liberty 
of  the  press.  They  appealed  in  deeper  tones  of  earnest 
remonstrance  and  solemn  warning  to  their  fellow-citizens, 
to  their  countrymen,  to  all  who  appreciated  the  value  of 
our  political  institutions,  to  help  them  re-establish  and 


THE  ALTON  TRAGEDY.  223 

maintain  their  desecrated  press.  They  called  a  conven 
tion  of  the  people  to  consider  the  disgrace  that  had  been 
brought  upon  their  town  and  State,  and  to  awaken  a 
public  sentiment  that  would  overbear  the  minions  of  the 
slaveholding  oligarchy,  which  was  assuming  to  rule  our 
nation.  Dr.  Edward  Bcecher,  of  Jacksonville,  came  to 
Alton  and  spoke  with  wisdom  and  power  in  defence  of 
the  Alton  Observer,  and  its  devoted  editor. 

Mr.  Lovejoy  gave  notice  that  he  felt  it  to  be  a  mo 
mentous  duty  incumbent  on  him,  there  to  vindicate  the 
precious  right  which  had  been  so  ruthlessly  outraged  in 
his  person  and  property.  He  gave  notice  that  he  had 
taken  measures  to  procure  another  printing-press  and 
materials  for  the  publication  of  his  paper.  He  hoped 
the  violent  men,  who  had  twice  broken  up  his  office, 
would  see  their  fearful  mistake  and  molest  him  no  more. 
He  trusted  the  good  people  of  Alton  and  the  officials  of 
their  city  would  see  to  it  that  he  should  be  protected,  if 
the  spirit  of  outrage  should  again  appear  in  their  midst. 

Many  of  the  good  people  of  the  place  gathered  about 
him  with  assurances  of  help,  if  needed.  A  Mr.  Gilrnan, 
by  all  acknowledged  to  be  one  of  the  very  best  men  in 
the  community,  readily  consented  to  receive  the  press 
into  his  store  for  safe-keeping,  and  many  other  gentlemen 
agreed  to  come  there  to  defend  it,  if  any  attempt  to  take 
it  away  should  be  made. 

As  the  day  drew  near  on  -which  the  press  was  to  ar 
rive,  alarming  threats  were  heard  about  the  city,  and 
evidences  of  preparation  for  another  deed  of  violence 
were  too  plain  to  be  mistaken.  Mr.  Oilman  called  upon 
the  Mayor  for  protection,  —  to  appoint  a  special  police 
for  the  occasion,  or  to  have  an  armed  force  in  readiness, 
if  the  emergency  should  require  their  interposition.  That 
official  informed  him  that  he  had  no  military  at  his  ser 
vice,  and  did  not  feel  authorized  to  appoint  a  special 


224  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

police.  Then  Mr.  Gilman  craved  to  know  if  the  Mayor 
would  authorize  him  to  collect  an  armed  force  to  protect 
his  property  if  it  should  be  assaulted.  The  Mayor  gave 
him  to  understand  that  he  would  bo  justified  in  so  doing. 

The  boat  arrived  in  the  night  of  the  6th  of  November, 
and  the  press  was  safely  deposited  in  Messrs.  Godfrey  ife 
Oilman's  store.  The  next  evening  a  mob  assembled  with 
the  declared  purpose  of  destroying  the  press  or  the 
building  that  contained  it,  in  which  were  goods  valued 
at  more  than  $100,000.  Mr.  Gilman  went  out  and 
calmly  remonstrated  with  the  mob.  He  assured  them 
that  it  was  his  determination,  as  it  was  his  right,  to  de 
fend  his  own  property  and  that  of  another,  which  had 
been  committed  to  him  for  safe-keeping,  and  that  he 
was  prepared  so  to  do ;  that  there  were  a  considerable 
number  of  loaded  muskets  in  his  store  and  resolute  men 
there  to  use  them.  He  had  no  wish  to  harm  any  one,  and 
besought  them  to  refrain  from  their  threatened  assault, 
which  would  certainly  be  repulsed.  They  heeded  him 
not,  but  reiterated  their  cries  for  the  onset.  It  was 
agreed  between  himself,  Mr.  Lovejoy,  and  their  helpers 
that  they  would  forbear  until  there  could  be  no  longer 
any  doubt  of  the  fell  purpose  of  the  assailants.  The 
suspense  was  brief.  Stones  and  other  heavy  missiles 
were  thrown  against  the  building  and  through  the  win 
dows.  These  were  quickly  followed  by  bullets.  At  this 
several  of  the  besieged  party  fired  upon  the  mob,  killing 
one  man  and  wounding  another.  After  a  temporary  re 
treat,  the  madmen  returned  bringing  materials  with 
which  to  fire  the  store.  A  ladder  was  raised  and  a  torch 
applied  to  the  roof.  Mr.  Lovejoy  came  out  and  aimed 
his  musket  at  the  incendiary.  So  soon  as  he  was  recog 
nized  he  was  fired  upon  and  fell,  his  bosom  pierced  by 
five  bullets. 

Mr.  Garrison  and  most  of  the  oldest  Abolitionists  re- 


THE  ALTON   TRAGEDY.  225 

gretted  that  Mr.  Lovejoy  and  his  friends  had  resorted 
to  deadly  weapons.  If  he  was  to  fall  in  our  righteous 
cause  we  wished  that  he  had  chosen  to  fall  an  unresist 
ing  martyr.  From  the  beginning  we  had  determined 
not  to  harm  our  foes.  And  though  we  had  been  insult 
ed,  buffeted,  starved,  imprisoned,  our  houses  sacked, 
our  property  destroyed,  our  buildings  burnt,  not  the  life 
of  one  of  our  number  had  hitherto  been  lost.  But  we 
doubted  not  that  our  devoted  brother  had  been  governed 
by  his  highest  sense  of  right.  He  had  acted  in  accord 
ance  with  the  accepted  morality  of  the  Christian  world, 
and  in  the  spirit  of  our  Revolutionary  fathers.  A  sensa 
tion  of  horror  at  the  murder  of  that  amiable  and  excellent 
young  man  thrilled  the  hearts  of  all  the  people  that 
were  not  steeped  in  the  insensibility  to  the  rights  of  hu 
manity  which  slaveholding  produces.  The  7th  of  No 
vember,  1837,  was  fixed  in  the  calendar  as  one  of  the 
days  never  to  be  forgotten  in  our  country,  nor  remem 
bered  but  with  shame. 

The  American  Ant  isla very  Society,  the  Massachusetts, 
and  other  kindred  societies  took  especial  and  very  ap 
propriate  notice  of  the  dreadful  outrage,  and  renewed 
their  solemn  pledges  to  labor  all  the  more  assiduously, 
for  the  utter  extermination  of  that  system  of  iniquity 
in  the  land,  which  could  be  upheld  only  at  the  expense 
of  our  freedom  of  speech  and  the  liberty  of  the  press. 

Rev.  Dr.  Channing  and  many  more  of  the  prominent 
citizens  of  Boston  were  moved  to  call  a  public  meeting  in 
their  "Old  Cradle  of  Liberty,"  without  distinction  of  sect 
or  party,  there  to  express  the  alarm  and  horror  which 
were  felt  at  the  outrage  on  civil  liberty,  and  the  murder 
of  a  Christian  minister,  for  attempting  to  maintain  his 
constitutional  and  inalienable  rights.  Accordingly,  the 
Doctor  and  a  hundred  other  gentlemen  made  an  appli 
cation  to  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  the  city  for  per- 
10*  o 


226  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

mission  to  occupy  Faneuil  Hall  for  that  purpose.    Their 
application  was  rejected  as  follows  :  — 

"  City  of  Boston.  In  Board  of  Aldermen,  November  29, 
1837:  On  the  petition  of  William  E.  Channing  and  others, 
for  the  use  of  Faneuil  Hall  on  the  evening  of  Monday,  the  4th 
of  December, 

"  Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  Board,  it  is  inexpe 
dient  to  grant  the  prayer  of  said  petition,  for  the  reason  that 
resolutions  and  votes  passed  by  a  public  meeting  in  Faneuil 
Hall  are  often  considered,  in  other  places,  as  the  expres 
sion  of  public  opinion  in  this  city ;  but  it  is  believed  by 
the  Board  that  the  resolutions  which  would  be  likely  to  be 
sanctioned  by  the  signers  of  this  petition  on  this  occasion 
ought  not  to  be  regarded  as  the  public  voice  of  this  city." 

This  extraordinary  conduct  of  the  city  authorities 
kindled  a  fire  of  indignation  throughout  the  city  and  the 
Commonwealth,  that  sent  forth  burning  words  of  sur 
prise  and  censure.  Dr.  Channing  addressed  an  eloquent 
and  impressive  "  letter  to  the  citizens  of  Boston,"  that 
produced  the  intended  effect.  It  was  widely  circulat 
ed,  and  everywhere  read  with  deep  emotion.  A  public 
meeting  was  called  by  gentlemen  who  were  not  Aboli 
tionists,  to  be  held  in  the  old  Supreme  Court  Room, 
"  to  take  into  consideration  the  reasons  assigned  by  the 
Mayor  and  Aldermen  for  withholding  the  use  of  Faneuil 
Hall,  and  to  act  in  the  premises  as  may  be  deemed 
expedient."  A  large  concourse  of  citizens  assembled. 
George  Bond,  Esq.,  was  chosen  chairman,  and  B.  F.  Hal- 
Ictt,  Secretary.  Dr.  Channing's  letter  was  read,  and 
then  a  series  of  resolutions,  "  drawn  up  with  consum 
mate  ability  and  strikingly  adapted  to  the  occasion," 
•were  offered  by  Mr.  Hallett;  and  after  an  animated  dis 
cussion  were  unanimously  adopted.  A  committee  of 
two  from  each  ward  was  appointed  to  renew  the  appli 
cation  (precisely  in  the  words  of  the  former  one)  for  the 


THE  ALTON   TRAGEDY.  227 

use  of  Faneuil  Hall,  and  to  obtain  signatures  to  the 
same.  This  request  was  not  to  be  denied.  The  Major 
and  Aldermen  yielded  to  the  pressure. 

On  the  8th  of  December  the  doors  of  Faneuil  Hall 
were  thrown  open,  and  as  many  people  as  could  find  a 
place  pressed  in.  Hon.  Jonathan  Phillips  was  called  to 
the  chair,  and  made  some  excellent  introductory  re 
marks.  Dr.  Channing  then  made  an  eloquent  and  im 
pressive  address,  after  which  B.  F.  Hallett,,  Esq.,  read 
the  resolutions  which  Dr.  Channing  had  drawn  up. 
These  were  seconded  by  George  S.  Hillard,  Esq.,  in  a 
very  able  speech.  Then  arose  James  T.  Austin,  the  At 
torney-General,  and  made  a  speech  in  the  highest  degree 
inflammatory  and  mobocratic.  He  declared  that  "Love- 
joy  died  as  the  fool  dieth."  He  justified  the  riotous  pro 
cedure  of  the  Altonians,  and  compared  them  to  "  the 
patriotic  Tea-Party  of  the  Revolution."  What  he  said 
of  the  slaves  was  really  atrocious.  Hear  him  ! 

"  We  have  a  menagerie  in  our  city  with  lions,  tigers, 
hyenas,  an  elephant,  a  jackass  or  two,  and  monkeys  in 
plenty.  Suppose,  now,  some  new  cosmopolite,  some  man 
of  philanthropic  feelings,  not  only  towards  men  but  ani 
mals,  who  believes  that  all  are  entitled  to  freedom  as 
an  inalienable  right,  should  engage  in  the  humane  task 
of  giving  liberty  to  these  wild  beasts  of  the  forest,  some 
of  whom  are  nobler  than  their  keepers,  or,  having  dis 
covered  some  new  mode  to  reach  their  understandings, 
should  try  to  induce  them  to  break  their  cages  and  be  free  ? 
The  people  of  Missouri  had  as  much  reason  to  be  afraid 
of  their  slaves  as  we  should  have  to  be  afraid  of  the 
wild  beasts  of  the  menagerie.  They  had  the  same 
dread  of  Lovejoy  that  we  should  have  of  this  supposed 
instigator,  if  we  really  believed  the  bars  would  be  broken 
and  the  caravan  let  loose  to  prowl  about  our  streets." 

Though  this  was  the  most  disgusting  passage  in  Mr. 


228  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

Austin's  speech,  nearly  all  of  it  was  offensive  to  every 
true  American  heart,  and  some  parts  were  really  impious. 
He  likened  the  Alton  and  St.  Louis  rioters  to  the  men 
who  inspired  and  led  our  Revolution.  He  infused  so 
much  of  his  riotous  spirit  into  a  portion  of  his  audience 
that  at  the  close  of  his  speech  they  attempted  to  break 
up  the  meeting  in  an  uproar.  Happily  for  the  reputa 
tion  of  Boston,  there  were  present  a  preponderance  of 
the  moral  elite  of  the  city.  So  soon  as  the  disorder  had 
subsided,  a  young  man,  then  unknown  to  most  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  took  the  platform,  and  soon  arrested  and 
then  riveted  the  attention  of  the  vast  assembly  to  a 
reply  to  the  Attorney-General  that  was  "  sublime,  irre 
sistible,  annihilating."  I  wish  there  were  room  in  these 
columns  for  the  whole  of  it.  I  can  give  you  but  a  brief 
passage. 

"  Mr.  Chairman,  when  I  heard  the  gentleman  lay  down 
principles  which  placed  the  rioters,  incendiaries,  and 
murderers  of  Alton  side  by  side  with  Otis  and  Hancock, 
with  Quincy  and  Adams,  I  thought  those  pictured  lips 
[pointing  to  the  portraits  in  the  hall]  would  have  broken 
into  voice  to  rebuke  the  recreant  American,  the  slan 
derer  of  the  dead.  [Great  applause  and  counter-ap 
plause.]  Sir,  the  gentleman  said  that  he  should  sink 
into  insignificance  if  he  dared  not  to  gainsay  the  princi 
ples  of  the  resolutions  before  this  meeting.  Sir,  for  the 
sentiments  he  has  uttered  on  soil  consecrated  by  the 
prayers  of  Puritans  and  the  blood  of  patriots,  the  earth 
should  have  yawned  and  swallowed  him  up  !  " 

I  need  only  tell  my  readers  that  this  was  the  debut  of 
our  Wendell  Phillips,  who  has  since  become  the  leading 
orator  of  our  nation,  and  the  dauntless  champion  of  our 
enslaved,  down-trodden  countrymen.  He  was  then  just 
established  in  the  practice  of  law  in  Boston,  with  the 
most  brilliant  prospect  of  success  in  his  profession.  No 


THE  ALTON   TRAGEDY.  229 

young  man  would  have  risen  so  soon  as  he,  or  to  so  great 
a  height  as  an  advocate  at  the  bar  and  a  speaker  in  the 
forum,  if  he  had  pursued  his  course  as  a  lawyer  and  a 
politician.  But,  blessed  be  the  God  of  the  oppressed, 
the  cry  of  the  millions,  to  whom  in  our  Republic  every 
right  of  humanity  was  denied,  entered  into  his  bosom. 
He  espoused  their  cause  with  no  hope  of  fee  or  reward, 
but  that  best  of  all  compensations,  the  consciousness  of 
having  relieved  suffering,  and  maintained  great  moral 
and  political  principles,  and  throughout  the  thirty-two 
years  that  have  since  passed  away,  he  has  consecrated  his 
brilliant  powers  to  the  service  of  the  enslaved  with  an 
assiduity  and  effect  of  which  our  whole  nation  has  been 
the  admiring  witness. 

Another  young  man,  to  whom  we  owe  scarcely  less 
than  to  Mr.  Phillips,  was  brought  into  our  ranks  and  im 
pelled  to  take  upon  himself  the  odium  of  an  Abolition 
ist  by  the  awful  catastrophe  at  Alton,  —  a  young  man 
bearing  a  name  illustrious  in  the  history  of  our  country, 
and  still  highly  honored  in  our  State  and  nation.  I  al 
lude  to  Edmund  Quincy,  a  son  of  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy, 
who,  having  filled  almost  every  other  office  in  the  gift  of 
the  people,  was  then  President  of  Harvard  College,  and 
grandson  of  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.,  one  of  the  leading  spirits 
of  the  American  Revolution. 

From  the  beginning  of  our  antislavery  efforts  Mr. 
Edmund  Quincy  had  been  deeply  interested  in  our  un 
dertaking.  But,  like  very  many  others,  he  distrusted  the 
wisdom  of  some  of  our  measures,  and  especially  the  ter 
rible  severity  of  Mr.  Garrison's  condemnation  of  slave 
holders. 

The  outrages  perpetrated  upon  Mr.  Lovejoy  and  the 
liberty  of  the  press  at  St.  Louis  and  Alton  dispelled  all 
doubt  of  the  unparalleled  iniquity  of  holding  human 
beings  in  the  condition  of  domesticated  brutes,  and  of 


230  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

the  sinfulness  of  all  who  consent  thereto.  He  has  since 
been  one  of  the  towers  of  our  strength  ;  has  presided, 
often  with  signal  ability,  at  our  meetings  in  the  most 
troublous  times,  and  occasionally  spoken  with  force  and 
marked  effect.  But  he  has  rendered  us  especial  ser 
vices  by  his  able  pen.  His  contributions  to  The  Anti- 
slavery  Standard  and  The  Liberator  have  been  numerous 
and  invaluable.  His  style  has  been  as  vigorous  and 
penetrating  as  that  of  Juiiius,  and  his  satire  sometimes  as 
keen.  Thus  have  the  attempts  of  slaveholders  and  their 
minions  to  crush  the  spirit  of  liberty  served  rather  to 
bring  to  her  standard  the  ablest  defenders. 

WOMAN  QUESTION.  — MISSES  GRIMKE'. 

The  title  of  this  article  announces  a  great  event  in 
the  progress  of  our  antislavery  conflict,  and  opens  a  sub 
ject  the  adequate  treatment  of  which  would  fill  a  vol 
ume  much  larger  than  I  intend  to  impose  upon  the 
public. 

From  the  beginning  of  Mr.  Garrison's  enterprise  ex 
cellent  women  were  among  his  most  earnest,  devoted, 
unshrinking  fellow-laborers.  Their  moral  instincts  made 
them  quicker  to  discern  the  right  than  most  men 
were,  and  their  lack  of  political  discipline  left  them  to 
the  guidance  of  their  convictions  and  humane  feelings. 
Would  that  I  could  name  all  the  women  who  rendered 
us  valuable  services  when  we  most  needed  help.  In  our 
early  meetings,  at  our  lectures,  public  discussions,  &c., 
a  large  portion  of  our  auditors  were  females,  whose  sym 
pathy  cheered  and  animated  us.  Among  our  first  and 
fastest  friends  in  Boston  were  Mrs.  L.  M.  Child,  Mrs.  M. 
W.  Chapman,  and  her  sisters,  the  Misses  Weston,  and 
her  husband's  sisters,  Miss  Mary  and  Miss  Ann  G.  Chap 
man,  and  their  cousin,  Miss  Anna  Green,  now  Mrs.  Wen- 


WOMAN   QUESTION.  —  MISSES   GRIMKE.  231 

dell  Phillips,  —  then,  as  now,  in  feeble  health,  but  strong 
in  faith  and  unfaltering  in  purpose.  There,  too,  were 
Mrs.  E.  L.  Follen  and  her  sister,  Miss  Susan  Cabot,  Miss 
Mary  S.  Parker,  Mrs.  Anna  Southwick,  Mrs.  Mary  May, 
Mrs.  Philbrick,  Miss  Henrietta  Sargent,  and  others.  In 
Philadelphia  we  found  wholly  with  us,  Lucretia  Mott, 
Esther  Moore,  Lydia  White,  Sarah  Pugh,  Mrs.  Purvis, 
the  Misses  Forten,  and  Mary  Grew.  In  New  York,  too, 
there  were  many  with  whom  I  did  not  become  person 
ally  acquainted.  And  indeed  wherever  in  our  country 
the  doctrine  of  "  immediate,  unconditional  emancipation  " 
(first  taught  by  a  woman  *)  was  proclaimed  there  were 
found  good  women  ready  to  embrace  and  help  to  propa 
gate  it.  Often  were  they  our  self-appointed  committees 
of  ways  and  means,  and  by  fairs  and  other  pleasant  de 
vices  raised  much  money  to  sustain  our  lecturers  and 
periodicals.  The  contributions  from  their  pens  were 
frequent  and  invaluable.  I  have  already  spoken  of  Mrs. 
Child's  "  Appeal,"  and  of  her  many  other  excellent  anti- 
slavery  writings.  I  ought  also  to  acknowledge  our  in 
debtedness  to  her  as  the  editor,  for  several  years,  of  The 
Antislavery  Standard,  which,  without  compromising  its 
fidelity  or  efficiency,  she  made  very  attractive  by  its  lit 
erary  qualities  and  its  entertaining  and  instructive  mis 
cellany. 

Mrs.  Maria  W.  Chapman,  who  wielded  gracefully  a 
trenchant  pen,  plied  it  busily  in  our  cause  with  great 
effect.  Her  successive  numbers  of  "  Right  and  Wrong 
in  Boston  "  were  too  incisive  not  to  touch  the  feelings 
of  the  good  people  of  that  metropolis,  which  claimed  to 
be  the  birthplace  of  American  independence,  but  had 
ceased  to  be  jealous  for  "  the  inalienable  rights  of  man." 
Year  after  year  her  "  Liberty  Bell "  rung  out  the  clear 
est  notes  of  personal,  civil,  and  spiritual  liberty,  and  she 
*  Elizabeth  Heyrick,  of  Leicester,  England. 


232  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

compiled  our  Antislavery  Hymn  Book,  —  "  The  Songs 
of  the  Free," —  effusions  of  her  own  and  her  sisters' 
warm  hearts,  and  of  their  kindred  spirits  in  this  country 
and  England. 

But  though  the  excellent  women  whom  I  have  named, 
and  many  more  like  them,  constantly  attended  our  meet 
ings,  and  often  suggested  the  best  things  that  were  said 
and  done  at  them,  they  could  not  be  persuaded  to  utter 
their  thoughts  aloud.  They  were  bound  to  silence  by 
the  almost  universal  sentiment  and  custom  which  for 
bade  "  women  to  speak  in  meeting." 

In  1836  two  ladies  of  a  distinguished  family  in  South 
Carolina — Sarah  and  Angelina  E.  Grimke —  came  to  New 
York,  under  a  deep  sense  of  obligation  to  do  what  they 
coidd  in  the  service  of  that  class  of  persons  with  whose 
utter  enslavement  they  had  been  familiar  from  child 
hood.  They  were  members  of  the  "  Society  of  Friends," 
and  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  the  event  proved, 
to  come  on  this  mission  of  love.  They  made  themselves 
acquainted  with  the  Abolitionists,  our  principles,  meas 
ures,  and  spirit.  These  commended  themselves  so  en 
tirely  to  their  consciences  and  benevolent  feelings  that 
they  advocated  them  with  great  earnestness,  and  enforced 
their  truth  by  numerous  facts  drawn  from  their  own 
past  experience  and  observation. 

In  the  fall  of  1836  Miss  A.  E.  Grimke  published  an 
"  Appeal  to  the  Women  of  the  South,"  on  the  subject 
of  slavery.  This  evinced  such  a  thorough  acquaintance 
with  the  American  system  of  oppression,  and  so  deep  a 
conviction  of  its  fearful  sinfulness,  that  Professor  Elizur 
Wright,  then  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  American 
Antislavery  Society,  urged  her  and  her  sister  Sarah  to 
come  to  the  city  of  New  York  and  address  ladies  in  their 
sewing-circles,  and  in  parlors,  to  which  they  might  be 
invited  to  meet  antislavery  ladies  and  their  friends. 


WOMAN   QUESTION.  —  MISSES   GRIMKE.  233 

No  man  was  better  able  than  Professor  Wright  to  appre 
ciate  the  value  of  the  contributions  which  these  South 
Carolina  ladies  were  prepared  to  make  to  the  cause  of 
impartial  liberty  and  outraged  humanity.  As  early  as 
1833,  while  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Phi 
losophy  in  Western  Reserve  College,  he  published  an 
elaborate  and  powerful  pamphlet  on  "  The  Sin  of  Slave- 
holding,"  which  we  accounted  one  of  our  most  impor 
tant  tracts.  Commended  by  him  and  by  others  who 
had  read  her  "  Appeal,"  Miss  Grimke  and  her  sister  at 
tracted  the  antislavery  women  of  New  York  in  such 
numbers  that  soon  no  parlor  or  drawing-room  was  large 
enough  to  accommodate  those  who  were  eager  to  hear 
them.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Dunbar,  therefore,  offered  them 
the  use  of  the  vestry  or  lecture-room  of  his  church  for 
their  meetings,  and  they  were  held  there  several  times. 
Such,  however,  was  the  interest  created  by  their  ad 
dresses,  that  the  vestry  was  too  small  for  their  audiences. 
Accordingly,  the  Rev.  Henry  G.  Ludlow  opened  his 
church  to  them  and  their  hearers,  of  whom  a  continu 
ally  increasing  number  were  gentlemen. 

Early  in  1837  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society 
invited  these  ladies  to  come  to  Boston  to  address  meet 
ings  of  those  of  their  own  sex.  But  it  was  impossible 
to  keep  them  thus  exclusive,  and  soon,  wherever  they 
were  advertised  to  speak,  there  a  large  concourse  of  men 
as  well  as  women  was  sure  to  be  assembled.  This  was 
an  added  offence,  which  our  opposers  were  not  slow  to 
mark,  nor  to  condemn  in  any  small  measure.  It  showed 
plainly  enough  that  "  the  Abolitionists  were  ready  to 
set  at  naught  the  order  and  decorum  of  the  Christian 
church." 

My  readers  may  smile  when  I  confess  to  them  that 
at  first  I  was  myself  not  a  little  disturbed  in  my  sense 
of  propriety.  But  I  took  the  matter  into  serious  con- 


234  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

sideration.  I  looked  the  facts  fully  in  the  face.  Here 
were  millions  of  our  countrymen  held  in  the  most  abject, 
cruel  bondage.  More  than  half  of  them  were  females, 
whose  condition  in  some  respects  was  more  horrible  than 
that  of  the  males.  The  people  of  the  North  had  con 
sented  to  this  gigantic  wrong  with  those  of  the  South, 
and  those  who  had  risen  up  to  oppose  it  were  denounced  as 
enemies  of  their  country,  were  persecuted,  their  property 
and  their  persons  violated.  The  pulpit  for  the  most 
part  was  dumb,  the  press  was  everywhere,  with  small 
exceptions,  wielded  in  the  service  of  the  oppressors,  the 
political  parties  were  vying  with  each  other  in  obsequi 
ousness  to  the  slaveholding  oligarchy,  and  the  petitions 
of  the  slaves  and  their  advocates  were  contemptuously 
and  angrily  spurned  from  the  legislature  of  the  Repub 
lic.  Surely,  the  condition  of  our  country  was  wretched 
and  most  perilous.  I  remembered  that  in  the  greatest 
emergencies  of  nations  women  had  again  and  again 
come  forth  from  the  retirement  to  which  they  were  con 
signed,  or  in  which  they  preferred  to  dwell,  and  had 
spoken  the  word  or  done  the  deed  which  the  crises 
demanded.  Surely,  the  friends  of  humanity,  of  the 
right  and  the  true,  never  needed  help  more  than  we 
needed  it.  And  here  had  come  two  well-informed  per 
sons  of  exalted  character  from  the  midst  of  slavedom 
to  testify  to  the  correctness  of  our  allegations  against 
slavery,  and  tell  of  more  of  its  horrors  than  we  knew. 
And  shall  they  not  be  heard  because  they  are  women  ] 
I  saw,  I  felt  it  was  a  miserable  prejudice  that  would  for 
bid  woman  to  speak  or  to  act  in  behalf  of  the  suffering, 
the  outraged,  just  as  her  heart  may  prompt  and  as  God 
has  given  her  power.  So  I  sat  me  clown  and  penned  as 
earnest  a  letter  as  I  could  write  to  the  Misses  Grimke, 
inviting  them  to  come  to  my  house,  then  in  South  Scit- 
uate,  to  stay  with  us  as  long  as  their  engagements  would 


WOMAN  QUESTION.  —  MISSES   GRIMKE.  235 

permit,  to  speak  to  the  people  from  my  pulpit,  from  the 
pulpit  of  my  excellent  cousin,  Rev.  E.  Q.  Sewall,  Scituate, 
and  from  as  many  other  pulpits  in  the  county  of  Ply 
mouth  as  might  be  opened  to  them. 

They  came  to  us  the  last  week  of  October,  1837,  and 
tarried  eight  days.  It  was  a  week  of  highest,  purest  en 
joyment  to  me  and  my  precious  wife,  and  most  profita 
ble  to  the  community. 

On  Sunday  evening  Angelina  addressed  a  full  house 
from  my  pulpit  for  two  hours  in  strains  of  wise  remark 
and  eloquent  appeal,  which  settled  the  question  of  the 
propriety  of  her  "  speaking  in  meeting." 

The  next  afternoon  she  spoke  to  a  large  audience  in 
Mr.  Sewall's  meeting-house  in  Scituate,  for  an  hour  and 
a  half,  evidently  to  their  great  acceptance.  The  fol 
lowing  Wednesday  I  took  the  sisters  to  Duxbury,  where, 
in  the  Methodist  Church  that  evening,  Angelina  held  six 
hundred  hearers  in  fixed  attention  for  two  hours,  and 
received  from  them  frequent  audible  (as  well  as  visible) 
expressions  of  assent  and  sympathy. 

On  Friday  afternoon  I  went  with  them  to  the  Baptist 
meeting-house  in  Hanover,  where  a  crowd  was  already 
assembled  to  hear  them.  Sarah  Grimke,  the  state  of 
whose  voice  had  prevented  her  speaking  on  either  of  the 
former  occasions,  gave  a  most  impressive  discourse  of 
more  than  an  hour's  length  on  the  dangers  of  slavery, 
revealing  to  us  some  things  which  only  those  who  had 
lived  in  the  prison-house  could  have  learnt.  Angelina 
followed  in  a  speech  of  nearly  an  hour,  in  which  she 
made  the  duty  and  safety  of  immediate  emancipation 
appear  so  plainly  that  the  wayfaring  man  though  a  fool 
must  have  seen  the  truth.  If  there  was  a  person  there 
who  went  away  unaffected,  he  would  not  have  been 
moved  though  an  angel  instead  of  Angelina  had  spoken 
to  him.  I  said  then,  I  have  often  said  since,  that  I  never 


236  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

have  heard  from  any  other  lips,  male  or  female,  such 
eloquence  as  that  of  her  closing  appeal.  Several  gen 
tlemen  who  had  come  from  Hingham,  not  disposed  nor 
expecting  to  be  pleased,  rushed  up  to  me  when  the  au 
dience  began  to  depart,  and  after  berating  me  roundly 
for  "  going  about  the  neighborhood  with  these  women 
setting  public  sentiment  at  naught  and  violating  the  de 
corum  of  the  church,"  said  "  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
they  have  a  right  to  speak  in  public,  and  they  ought  to  be 
heard  ;  do  bring  them  to  Hingham  as  soon  as  may  be. 
Our  meeting-house  shall  be  at  their  service."  Accord 
ingly,  the  next  day  I  took  them  thither,  and  they  spoke 
there  with  great  effect  on  Sunday  evening,  November 
5th,  from  the  pulpit  of  the  Unitarian  Church,  then  oc 
cupied  by  Rev.  Charles  Brooks. 

The  experience  of  that  week  dispelled  my  Pauline  prej 
udice.  I  needed  no  other  warrant  for  the  course  the 
Misses  Grimke  were  pursuing  than  the  evidence  they 
gave  of  their  power  to  speak  so  as  to  instruct  and  deep 
ly  impress  those  who  listened  to  them.  I  could  not  be 
lieve  that  God  gave  them  such  talents  as  they  evinced 
to  be  buried  in  a  napkin.  I  could  not  think  they  would 
be  justified  in  withholding  what  was  so  obviously  given 
them  to  say  on  the  great  iniquity  of  our  country,  be 
cause  they  were  women.  And  ever  since  that  day  I 
have  been  steadfast  in  the  opinion  that  the  daughters 
of  men  ought  to  be  just  as  thoroughly  and  highly  edu 
cated  as  the  sons,  that  their  physical,  mental,  and  moral 
powers  should  be  as  fully  developed,  and  that  they  should 
be  allowed  and  encouraged  to  engage  in  any  employment, 
enter  into  any  profession,  for  which  they  have  properly 
qualified  themselves,  and  that  women  ought  to  be  paid 
the  same  compensation  as  men  for  services  of  any  kind 
equally  well  performed.  This  radical  opinion  is. spread 
ing  rapidly  in  this  country  and  in  England,  and  it  will 


WOMAN   QUESTION.  —  MISSES   GRIMKE.  237 

ultimately  prevail,  just  as  surely  as  that  God  is  impartial 
and  that  "  in  Christ  Jesus  there  is  neither  bond  nor  free, 
neither  male  nor  female."  And  yet  it  has  been,  and  is, 
as  strenuously  opposed  and  as  harshly  denounced  as  was 
our  demand  of  the  immediate  emancipation  of  the  en 
slaved.  Men  and  women,  press  and  pulpit,  statesmen 
and  clergymen,  legislative  and  ecclesiastical  bodies  have 
raised  the  cry  of  alarm,  and  pronounced  the  advocates 
of  the  equal  rights  of  women  dangerous  persons,  dis- 
organizers,  infidels. 

The  first  combined  assault  was  made  upon  "The  Rights 
of  Women"  by  the  "Pastoral  Association  of  Massachusetts ' 
in  the  fall  of  1837  or  the  spring  of  1838,  in  their  spirit 
ual  bull  against  the  antislavery  labors  of  the  Misses 
Grimke,  which  it  utterly  condemned  as  unchristian  and 
demoralizing.  This,  of  course,  made  it  the  duty,  as  it 
was  pleasure,  of  the  New  England  Abolitionists  to  stand 
by  those  excellent  women,  who  had  rendered  such  ines 
timable  services  to  the  cause  of  the  enslaved,  the  down 
trodden,  the  despised  millions  of  our  countrymen.  There 
fore,  at  the  next  New  England  Antislavery  Convention, 
held  in  Boston,  May,  1838,  attended  by  delegates  from 
eleven  States,  it  was  "  Voted,  That  all  persons  present,  or 
who  may  be  present,  at  subsequent  meetings,  whether  men 
or  women,  who  agree  with  us  in  sentiment  on  the  subject 
of  slavery,  be  invited  to  become  members  and  participate 
in  the  proceedings  of  the  Convention." 

This  gave  rise  to  a  long  and  very  animated  discussion, 
but  was  passed  by  a  very  large  majority.  Immediately 
eight  Orthodox  clergymen  requested  to  have  their  names 
erased  from  the  roll  of  that  Convention,  and  seven  others, 
including  some  of  our  faithful  fellow-laborers,  presented  a 
protest  against  the  vote,  which,  by  their  request,  was  en 
tered  upon  the  records,  arid  published  with  the  doings  of 
the  Convention. 


238          ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

At  that  same  great  gathering  a  committee  of  three 
persons  was  appointed  to  prepare  and  transmit  a  memo 
rial  to  each  and  all  of  the  ecclesiastical  associations  in 
New  England,  of  every  sect,  beseeching  them  to  testify 
against  the  further  continuance  in  our  country  of  slavery, 
and  take  such  measures  as  they  might  deem  best  to  in 
duce  the  members  of  their  several  denominations  who 
were  guilty  of  the  dreadful  iniquity  to  consider  and  turn 
away  from  it.  One  of  that  committee  was  a  much  re 
spected  woman,  as  well  qualified  as  either  of  her  associ 
ates  to  discharge  the  duties  assigned  them.  An  excellent 
memorial  was  prepared  and  presented  in  accordance  with 
the  vote.  But  it  was  very  coldly  received  by  some,  and 
rudely  treated  by  others  of  the  ecclesiastical  bodies  to 
which  it  was  sent.  On  the  presentation  of  it  to  the 
Rhode  Island  Congregational  Consociation,  a  scene  of 
great  excitement  ensued.  The  memorial  was  treated 
with  all  possible  indignity.  Most  of  the  brethren  who 
had  been  earnest  for  the  reception  of  it,  and  for  such 
action  as  it  requested,  when  they  were  informed  that 
one  of  the  committee  by  whom  the  memorial  was  pre 
pared  was  a  woman,  united  in  a  vote  "  to  turn  the  illegiti 
mate  product  from  the  house,  and  obliterate  from  the  records 
all  traces  of  its  entrance"  No  deliberative  assembly  ever 
behaved  in  a  more  indecorous  manner.  And  those  who 
were  most  active  in  trampling  upon  that  respectful  pe 
tition  in  behalf  of  bleeding  humanity  were  the  professed 
ministers  of  Him  who  came  to  preach  deliverance  to 
the  captive.  "  0  tempora  !  0  mores  !  !  " 


"  THE   PASTORAL  LETTER  "   AND  "  THE   CLERICAL 
APPEAL." 

Abolitionists  from  the  first  were  persons  of  both  sexes 
and  all  complexions,  of  every  class  in  society,  of  every 


"THE  PASTORAL  LETTER."  230 

religious  denomination,  of  each  of  the  three  learned  pro 
fessions,  of  both  political  parties,  and  of  all  the  various 
trades  and  occupations  in  which  men  and  women  engage. 
Although  it  is  too  true  that  most  ministers,  especially 
in  the  cities,  were  slow  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  op 
pressed,  yet  it  is  due  to  them  to  say  that,  taking  the 
country  through,  there  were,  in  proportion  to  their  num 
bers,  more  of  that  profession  than  of  either  of  the  others 
•who  embraced  the  doctrine  of  "  immediate  emancipation," 
advocated  it  publicly,  wrote  columns,  pamphlets,  and  vol 
umes  in  its  defence,  and  suffered  no  little  obloquy  and 
persecution  for  so  doing.  And  they  were,  as  I  have  said, 
of  every  Protestant  sect.  Whenever  a  complete  history 
of  our  antislavery  conflict  shall  be  written,  grateful  and 
admiring  mention  will  be  made  of  the  valuable  services 
and  generous  sacrifices  of  many  ministers  whose  names 
may  not  appear  in  my  slight  sketches. 

These  various  individuals  were  evidently  moved  by 
one  spirit,  drawn  together  by  the  conviction  that  there 
was  a  great,  a  fearful  iniquity  involved  in  the  enslave 
ment  of  millions  of  the  inhabitants  of  our  land,  that  if 
the  God-given  rights  of  humanity  were  (as  the  founders 
of  our  Republic  declared  them  to  be)  imilicnable,  then 
those  men,  who  were  holding  human  beings  as  their  chat 
tels,  were  setting  the  will  and  authority  of  the  Almighty 
at  defiance,  and  would  bring  themselves  to  ruin.  More 
over,  there  was  a  deep  conviction  awakened  in  the  hearts 
of  those  who  openly  espoused  the  cause  of  the  bondmen, 
that  the  people  of  the  North  were  verily  guilty  in  con 
senting  to  their  enslavement ;  and,  as  the  States  and  the 
churches  refused  to  interfere  for  their  deliverance,  it  was 
left  for  individuals  and  voluntary  associations  to  do  what 
might  be  done,  so  to  correct  public  opinion  and  awaken 
the  public  conscience  that  slavery  could  not  be  tolerated 
in  the  land. 


240  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

Further  than  this  there  was  little  agreement  among 
the  early  Abolitionists.  But  this  proved  to  be  a  mighty 
solvent.  And  for  years  the  wonderful,  the  beautiful,  the 
Christian  sight  was  seen,  —  Trinitarians  and  Unitarians, 
Methodists  and  Universalists,  Baptists  and  Quakers, 
laboring  together  in  the  cause  of  suffering  fellow-beings, 
with  so  much  earnestness  that  they  had  set  aside,  for 
the  while,  their  theological  and  ritualistic  peculiarities, 
and  seemed  to  rejoice  in  their  release  from  those  narrow 
enclosures.  Coming  out  of  our  hall  on  the  second  even 
ing  of  our  Convention  in  Philadelphia,  in  December, 
1833,  a  young  Orthodox  minister  took  my  arm  with  an 
affectionate  pressure,  and  said,  "  Brother  May,  I  never 
thought  that  I  could  feel  towards  a  Unitarian  as  I  feel 
towards  you."  My  reply  was  :  "  Dear  M.,  if  professing 
Christians  were  only  real  Christians,  engaged  in  the  work 
of  the  Lord,  they  could  not  find  the  time  nor  the  heart 
to  quarrel  about  creeds  and  rites."  Wherever  I  went, 
preaching  the  gospel  of  impartial  liberty,  I  was  as  cor 
dially  received  by  Orthodox  as  by  Unitarian  Abolitionists, 
until  *I  came  to  have  a  much  more  brotherly  feeling  to 
wards  an  antislavery  Presbyterian  or  Baptist  or  Metho 
dist  than  I  did  towards  a  Unitarian  who  was  proslavery, 
or  indifferent  to  the  wrongs  of  the  bondmen.  And  this 
feeling  was  obviously  reciprocated.  I  was  repeatedly  in 
vited  to  preach  in  the  pulpits  of  Orthodox  ministers,  and 
to  commune  with  Orthodox  churches.  Once  I  attended 
a  church  in  company  with  Miss  Ann  G.  Chapman,  one 
of  the  most  single-minded  and  true-hearted  of  women. 
The  invitation  to  the  Lord's  table  was  given  in  such 
words  as  virtually  excluded  us.  Of  course  we  arose  and 
departed.  But  so  soon  as  the  service  was  over  both 
the  minister  and  deacon  (belovejj  antislavery  brethren) 
came  to  my  lodgings  to  assure  me  that  the  exclusion 
was  not  intended,  and  that  whenever  Miss  Chapman  and 


UNSECTARIAN   ABOLITIONISM.  241 

myself  might  again  be  at  their  church  on  a  similar  occa 
sion,  they  hoped  that  we  would  commune  there. 

I  give  these  facts,  and  could  give  many  more  like 
them,  to  show  the  anti-sectarian  tendency  of  the  anti- 
slavery  reform.  This  was  perceived  by  many  of  "  the 
wise  and  prudent"  leaders  of  the  sects,  and  was  evi 
dently  watched  by  them  with  a  jealous  eye.  As  the 
number  of  Abolitionists  increased,  and  our  influence  in 
the  churches  came  to  be  felt  more  and  more,  many  of 
those  leaders  joined  antislavery  societies,  partly,  no 
doubt,  because  they  had  been  brought  to  see  the  truth 
of  our  doctrines  and  the  importance  of  the  work  we  were 
laboring  to  accomplish,  but  also  in  part,  if  not  chiefly 
(as  I  was  afterwards  forced  to  suspect),  because  they 
wished  to  maintain  the  ascendency  over  their  sects,  and 
to  prevent  the  obliteration  of  the  lines  which  separated 
them  from  such  as  they  were  pleased  to  consider  un 
sound  in  faith. 

We  were  greatly  encouraged  and  gladdened  by  the 
accessions  we  received  in  1835  and  1836.  Many  minis 
ters  of  the  evangelical  sects  joined  us,  not  a  few  of  them 
Doctors  of  Divinity.  And  the  obligations  of  Christians 
to  the  bondmen  in  our  land,  and  the  discipline  that 
should  be  brought  to  bear  on  those  professing  Christians 
who  were  holding  them  in  slavery,  became  the  subjects 
of  earnest  debate  in  several  of  the  large  ecclesiastical 
bodies.  But  we  found  these  new-comers  were  much  dis 
posed  to  object  to  the  liberty  that  was  allowed  on  our 
platform.  Generally  the  president  or  chairman  of  our 
meetings  would  call  upon  some  one  to  invoke  the  divine 
blessing  upon  our  undertaking.  Sometimes,  in  defer 
ence  to  our  Quaker  brethren,  we  would  sit  in  silence 
until  the  Spirit  moved  some  one  to  offer  prayer.  Then 
again,  persons  who  were  not  members  of  any  religious 
denomination,  nay,  even  some  who  were  suspected  of 
11  p 


242  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

being,  if  not  known  to  be,  unbelievers,  infidels,  were  per 
mitted  to  co-operate  with  us,  to  contribute  to  our  funds, 
to  take  part  in  our  deliberations,  and  to  be  put  upon  our 
committees.  This  was  a  scandal  in  the  estimation  of 
those  of  the  "  straitest  sect."  Our  only  reply  was,  that 
as  so  many,  who  made  the  highest  professions  of  Chris 
tian  faith,  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  cries  of  the  millions 
who  were  suffering  the  greatest  wrongs,  we  were  grateful 
for  the  assistance  of  such  as  made  no  professions.  Not 
those  who  cried  Lord,  Lord,  but  those  who  were  eager  to 
do  the  will  of  the  impartial  Father,  were  the  persons  we 
valued  most. 

But  nothing  gave  so  much  offence  as  the  admission  of 
women  to  speak  in  our  meetings,  to  act  on  our  commit 
tees,  and  to  co-operate  with  us  in  any  way  they  saw  fit. 
In  my  last  I  gave  some  account  of  the  rupture  it  caused 
in  our  New  England  Antislavery  Convention  in  1838. 
This  was  foreshadowed  the  year  previous.  Some  time  in 
the  summer  of  1837  the  General  Association  of  Massa 
chusetts  issued  a  "Pastoral  Letter  to  the  churches  un 
der  their  care,"  intended  to  avert  the  alarming  evils 
which  were  coming  upon  them  from  the  over-heated  zeal 
of  the  Abolitionists.  First,  the  extraordinary  document 
mourns  over  the  loss  of  deference  to  the  pastoral  office, 
which  is  enjoined  in  Scripture,  and  which  is  essential  to 
the  best  influence  of  the  ministry.  At  this  day,  when 
all  but  Roman  Catholics  and  High  Church  Episcopalians 
are  wondering  at,  if  not  amused  by,  the  dealing  of  Bishop 
Potter  with  Mr.  Tyng,  it  may  surprise  my  readers  to  be 
told  that  thirty  years  ago  the  Orthodox  Congregational 
ministers  of  Massachusetts  set  up  the  same  claim  of  au 
thority  in  their  several  parishes,  that  the  diocesan  of  New 
York  and  New  Jersey  demands  for  his  clergymen.  "  One 
way,"  they  said  in  their  Pastoral  Letter,  "  one  way  in 
which  the  respect  due  to  the  pastoral  office  has  been  in 


"THE  PASTORAL  LETTER."  243 

some  cases  violated,  is  in  encouraging  lecturers  or  preach 
ers  on  certain  topics  of  reform  to  present  their  subjects 
within  the  parochial  limits  of  settled  pastors,  without 
their  consent"  "  Your  minister  is  ordained  of  God  to  bo 
your  teacher,  and  is  commanded  to  feed  that  flock  over 
which  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  made  him  overseer.  If 
there  are  certain  topics  upon  which  he  does  not  preach 
with  the  frequency,  or  in  the  manner  that  would  please 
you,  it  is  a  violation  of  sacred  and  important  RIGHTS  to 
encourage  a  stranger  to  present  them."  "  Deference  and 
subordination  are  essential  to  the  happiness  of  society, 
and  peculiarly  so  in  the  relation  of  a  people  to  their  pas 
tor."  Happily  for  those  who  may  come  after  us,  we 
Abolitionists  have  done  much  to  emancipate  the  people 
from  such  spiritual  bondage,  and  secure  to  them  the  priv 
ilege  of  seeking  after  knowledge  wherever  it  may  be 
found,  and  yielding  themselves  to  good  influences,  let 
them  come  through  whatever  channel  they  may. 

But  the  "  Pastoral  Letter "  dwelt  at  greater  length 
upon  the  dangers  which  threatened  the  female  character 
with  wide-spread  and  permanent  injury.  Forgetting  that 
women  were  the  bravest,  as  well  as  the  most  devoted  and 
affectionate  of  the  first  disciples  of  Jesus,  that  in  all  ages 
since  they  have  been  prominent  among  the  confessors  of 
Christianity,  and  that  in  our  day  they  do  more  than  men 
to  uphold  the  churches,  —  forgetting  these  facts,  the 
frightened  authors  and  signers  of  that  letter  uttered 
themselves  thus  :  "  The  power  of  woman  is  in  her  depen 
dence,  flowing  from  the  consciousness  of  that  weakness 
which  God  has  given  her  for  her  protection,  and  which 
keeps  her  in  those  departments  of  life  that  form  the 

characters  of  individuals  and  of  the  nation But, 

when  she  assumes  the  place  and  tone  of  man  as  a  public 
reformer,  our  care  and  protection  of  her  seem  unnecessary  ; 
we  put  ourselves  in  self-defence  against  her ;  she  yields 


244  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

the  power  which  God  has  given  her  for  protection,  and 
her  character  becomes  unnatural.  If  the  vine,  whose 
strength  and  beauty  is  to  lean  upon  the  trellis-work  and 
half  conceal  its  clusters,  thinks  to  assume  the  indepen 
dence  and  the  overshading  nature  of  the  elm,  it  will 
not  only  cease  to  bear  fruit,  but  will  fall  in  shame  and 
dishonor  into  the  dust."  Did  not  those  ministers  know 
—  were  there  not  in  their  day  wives  who  sustained  their 
husbands  instead  of  leaning  upon  them  1  women  who 
were  the  stay  and  staff  of  the  men  of  their  families  — 
their  mental  and  moral  stamina  1  There  have  been  such 
women  in  all  other  times  ;  we  have  known  and  do  know 
such  women  now.  If  our  antislavery  conflict  has  done 
nothing  else,  it  has  shown  that  there  is  neither  orthodox 
nor  heterodox,  neither  white  nor  black,  neither  male  nor 
female,  but  all  are  one  in  the  ivork  of  the  Lord. 

Undismayed  by  the  censure  and  warning  of  so  exalt 
ed  a  body  as  the  General  Association,  we  Abolitionists 
continued  to  labor  as  we  had  done,  pursuing  the  same 
measures,  using  the  same  instrumentalities,  employing  as 
our  agents  and  lecturers  women  no  less  than  men,  whom 
we  found  able  as  well  as  willing  to  do  good  service.  And 
to  several,  besides  those  I  have  already  named,  the  bond 
men  and  their  advocates  were  immeasurably  indebted. 
Abby  Kelly  (now  Mrs.  Foster)  performed  for  years  an 
incredible  amount  of  labor.  Her  manner  of  speaking 
in  her  best  days  was  singularly  effective.  Her  knowledge 
of  the  subject  was  complete,  her  facts  were  pertinent, 
her  arguments  forcible,  her  criticisms  were  keen,  her 
condemnation  was  terrible.  Few  of  our  agents  of  either 
sex  did  more  work  while  her  strength  lasted,  or  did  it 
better. 

Susan  B.  Anthony  was  one  of  the  living  spirits  of  our 
financial  department,  indomitable  in  her  purposes,  in 
genious  in  her  plans,  untiring  in  her  exertions,  she  not 


"THE   CLERICAL  APPEAL."  245 

only  kept  herself  continually  at  work,  but  spurred  all 
about  her  to  new  effort.  She  has  often  herself  spoken  to 
excellent  effect,  and  more  frequently  stimulated  others 
to  their  best  efforts. 

Miss  Sallie  Holley  has  seldom  consented  to  speak  in 
our  largest  assemblies,  or  in  our  cities.  But  we  have 
very  frequently  heard  of  her  diligent  labors  in  the  rural 
districts,  and  of  the  good  fruits  she  has  gathered  there. 
Her  eloquence  is  particularly  dignified  and  impressive. 

I  should  love  to  tell  of  Lucy  Stone,  and  Antoinette  L. 
Brown,  and  Mrs.  E.  C.  Stanton,  and  Ernestine  L.  Rose, 
all  wise  women  and  attractive  speakers,  but  their  word 
and  work  has  been  given  more  to  the  advocacy  of  "  Wo 
man's  Rights."  The  reformation  for  which  they  have 
toiled  so  long  and  so  well,  though  the  offspring  of  Aboli 
tionism,  is  still  more  radical ;  and  to  the  history  of  it 
volumes  will  hereafter  be  devoted. 

I  can  here  only  name  Miss  Anna  E.  Dickinson,  now 
one  of  the  most  attractive  of  the  popular  lecturers.  Al 
though  another  of  the  women  who  have  been  brought 
out  of  their  retirement  by  the  exigency  of  the  times,  yet 
she  came  upon  the  platform  about  the  period  at  which 
I  intend  these  recollections  shall  cease. 

As  surely  as  the  conflict  with  slavery  has  been  found 
to  be  irrepressible,  so  surely  will  it  be  found  to  be  im 
possible  to  suppress  the  conflict  for  the  rights  of  women 
until  they  shall  be  securely  placed  where  the  Creator  in 
tended  them  to  stand,  on  an  entire  equality  with  men  in 
their  domestic,  social,  legal,  and  political  relations. 

Not  long  after  the  "  Pastoral  Letter,"  there  came 
forth  from  some  of  the  members  of  the  Massachusetts 
General  Association  a  still  more  pointed  attack  upon  The 
Liberator,  Mr.  Garrison  and  his  associates,  one  which 
would  have  been  very  damaging  if  it  had  not  been  so 
easily  repelled.  It  was  entitled  the  "  Appeal  of  Clerical 


246  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

Abolitionists  on  Antislavery  Measures,"  signed  by  two 
Orthodox  ministers  of  Boston,  and  three  in  the  vicinity 
of  that  city.  As  these  gentlemen  had  belonged  to  the 
Antislavery  Society,  and  two  of  them  had  been  vehe 
ment  if  not  fierce  in  their  advocacy  of  our  doctrines,  it 
would  seem  that  they  must  have  known  whereof  they 
affirmed.  They  prefaced  their  Appeal  with  a  declaration 
of  their  lively  interest  in  the  cause  of  the  oppressed, 
their  clear  perception  of  the  sinfulness  and  their  detes 
tation  of  slavery.  Then  they  went  on  to  accuse  the 
leading  Abolitionists,  1st,  of  hasty,  unsparing,  and  almost 
ferocious  denunciation  "  of  a  certain  reverend  gentleman 
because  he  had  resided  in  the  South,"  without  having 
taken  pains  to  ascertain  whether  he  had  been  a  slavehold 
er  or  not ;  2d,  They  accused  us  of  "  hasty  insinuations  " 
against  an  Orthodox  minister  of  high  standing  in  Bos 
ton,  that  he  was  a  slaveholder,^\vithout  having  had  any 
proof  of  the  truth  of  the  reports  we  may  have  heard  so 
damaging  to  the  reverend  gentleman's  reputation.  Their 
third,  fourth,  and  fifth  accusations  were,  that  we  had 
demanded  of  ministers  what  we  had  no  right  to  require  of 
them;  had  abused  them  for  not  doing  as  we  called  upon 
them  to  do,  and,  through  our  zeal  in  the  cause  of  the  en 
slaved,  we  had  become  indifferent  to  other  Christian  en 
terprises,  and  would  withdraw  from  them  the  regards  of 
those  who  co-operated  with  us,  and  that  we  had  censured 
and  denounced  excellent  Christian  ministers  and  church- 
members  because  they  were  not  prepared  to  enter  fully 
into  the  work  of  antislavery  societies. 

This  document,  coming  from  such  persons,  of  course 
was  the  occasion  of  no  little  excitement.  Our  enemies 
exulted  over  it  as  testimony  against  us,  given  by  those 
who  had  been  in  our  councils  and  well  knew  what  spirit 
animated  us.  Others  who  had  been  timid  friends,  or 
half  inclined  to  join  our  ranks,  were  at  first  repulsed 


"THE  CLERICAL  APPEAL."  247 

from  us  by  the  apprehension  that  there  was  too  much 
truth  in  these  charges. 

But  as  soon  as  possible  elaborate  and  thorough  replies 
were  published  to  this  Appeal,  denying  the  truth  of  each 
of  the  above-named  accusations,  and  showing  them  to  be 
false.  One  of  the  replies  was  written  by  Mr.  Garrison, 
in  his  clear  and  trenchant  style,  and  showed  up  the  in 
consistency  as  well  as  the 'falseness  of  the  accusations  by 
ample  quotations  from  the  writings  and  speeches  of  Mr. 
Fitch,  the  author  of  the  Appeal.  The  other  reply  was 
from  the  pen  of  Rev.  A.  A.  Phelps. 

This  good  orthodox  brother  was  then  the  General 
Agent  of  the  Antislavery  Society,  and  therefore  felt  it 
to  be  incumbent  upon  him  to  repel  charges  so  unjust 
and  so  injurious.  Xo  one  but  Mr.  Garrison  was  so  com 
petent  as  he  to  do  this.  From  an  early  period  Mr. 
Phelps  had  been  engaged  in  this  great  reform.  In  1833 
or  1834  he  published  a  volume  on  the  subject,  which 
showed  how  thoroughly  he  understood  the  principles, 
how  deeply  he  was  imbued  with  the  spirit,  of  the  under 
taking.  He  gave  years  of  undivided  attention  to  the 
cause,  and  by  the  labors  of  his  pen  and  his  voice  ren 
dered  essential  services.  His  reply  to  the  Appeal  was 
complete,  exhaustive,  unanswerable.  And  thus  what 
was  intended  to  do  us  harm  was  overruled  for  our  good. 
It  gave  a  fair  and  proper  occasion  for  the  fullest  expo 
sition  to  the  public  of  our  doctrines,  our  measures,  and 
of  the  spirit  in  which  we  intended  to  prosecute  them. 

I  am  most  happy  to  conclude  this  narrative  by  stat 
ing,  because  it  is  so  highly  honorable  to  Rev.  Charles 
Fitch,  the  author  of  the  Appeal,  -that  some  time  after 
wards  he  saw  and  frankly  confessed  his  fault.  On  the 
9th  of  January,  1840,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  Mr.  Gar 
rison,  after  a  very  proper  introduction  to  such  a  confes 
sion,  Mr.  Fitch  said  :  — 


248  ANT1SLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

"  I  feel  bound  in  duty  to  say  to  you,  sir,  that  to  gain 
the  good-will  of  man  was  the  only  object  I  had  in  view 
in  everything  which  I  did  relative  to  the  *  Clerical  Ap 
peal.'  As  I  now  look  back  upon  it,  in  the  light  in  which 
it  has  of  late  been  spread  before  my  own  mind  (as  I 
doubt  not  by  the  Spirit  of  God),  I  can  clearly  see  that 
in  all  that  matter  I  had  no  regard  for  the  glory  of  God 
or  the  good  of  man.  If  you  can  make  any  use  of  this 
communication  that  you  think  will  be  an  honor  to  Him, 
or  a  service  to  the  cause  of  truth,  dispose  of  it  at  your 
pleasure." 

It  surely  will  do  good  to  republish  this  magnanimous, 
noble,  Christian  confession  of  the  wrong  that  was  at 
tempted  to  be  done  by  that  "  Clerical  Appeal." 

DR.  CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

The  name  of  Dr.  Follen  will  send  a  grateful  thrill 
through  the  memory  of  every  one  who  really  knew  him. 
He  was  a  dear  son  of  God,  and  attracted  all  but  such 
as  were  repulsed  by  the  spirit  of  righteousness  and  free 
dom.  He  was  a  native  of  that  country  which  gave  birth 
to  Luther.  The  light  of  civil  and  religious  liberty 
kindled  in  Wittenberg  shone  upon  his  cradle.  He 
was  the  son  of  Protestant  parents,  and  received  a  re 
ligious  education  with  little  reference  to  the  dogmas  of 
any  sect.  He  was  born  in  the  early  years  of  the  French 
Revolution,  —  that  event  which  at  first  revived  the  hopes 
of  the  oppressed  subjects  of  European  despots.  The 
Germans,  especially  those  of  the  smaller  members  of 
the  Confederacy,  hailed  the  prospect  of  more  liberal  in 
stitutions  in  France  as  the  harbinger  of  a  better  day  for 
themselves.  Charles  Follen  was  just  then  at  the  age  to 
receive  into  the  depths  of  his  soul  the  generous  senti 
ments  that  were  uttered  by  the  purest,  best  men  of  Ger- 


DR.   CHARLES  FOLLEN.  249 

many.  His  father,  an  enlightened  civilian  and  liberal 
Christian,  encouraged  the  growing  ardor  of  his  son  in  the 
cause  of  freedom  and  humanity. 

When;  therefore,  the  German  States,  finding  them 
selves  deceived  by  Bonaparte,  united  with  one  accord  to 
oppose  him,  Charles  Follen,  then  a  student  at  the  Uni 
versity  of  Giesen,  and  only  nineteen  years  of  age,  came 
forward  to  act  his  first  public  part  in  the  great  struggle 
for  civil  liberty.  He  entered  the  allied  army  in  a  volun 
teer  corps  of  young  men,  and  endured  the  fatigues  and 
incurred  the  dangers  of  those  battle-fields,  on  which  were 
witnessed  the  death-throes  of  the  first  Napoleon's  ambi 
tion.  I  have  heard  him  describe  his  feelings,  and  what 
he  believed  to  be  the  feelings  of  his  youthful  comrades, 
in  that  so-called  "  holy  war  of  the  people."  They  re 
fused  to  wear  the  trappings  of  soldiers.  They  needed 
not  "  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  war "  to  rouse  or 
sustain  the  purpose  of  their  souls.  They  came  into  the 
field  of  mortal  strife  as  men,  not  soldiers,  to  contend  for 
liberty,  not  laurels.  Whenever  he  spoke  of  that  momen 
tous  period  of  his  life,  a  solemnity  came  over  the  calm, 
sweet  face  of  Dr.  Follen,  his  utterance  was  subdued,  his 
whole  frame  pervaded  by  a  deep  emotion,  so  that,  much 
as -I  differed  from  him  in  my  opinion  of  that  resort  to 
carnal  weapons,  I  could  not  doubt  that  he  had  thrown 
himself  into  the  dread  conflict  with  a  self-sacrificing,  I 
had  almost  said,  a  holy  spirit.  Korner,  "the  patriot 
poet  of  Germany,"  was  his  personal  friend,  and  it  is  a 
touching  incident  that  some  of  his  last  mental  efforts 
were  most  successful  translations  into  our  language  of 
the  breathing  thoughts  and  burning  words  of  that  en 
thusiast  of  liberty. 

Although  the  issue  of  the  French   Revolution  cast 
down  the  hope  of  the  friends  of  freedom,  that  hope  was 
not  destroyed.     True  they  had  been  deceived.     But  they 
11* 


250  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

could  not  doubt  that  freedom  was  a  reality,  the  birth 
right  of  man.  When,  therefore,  the  real  design  of  the 
self-styled  "  Holy  Alliance  "  between  Russia,  Austria,  and 
Prussia  became  manifest,  many  of  the  choicest  spirits 
who  had  united  under  their  banner  to  overthrow  the 
tyrant  of  France  uprose  to  withstand  them.  None  were 
more  resolute,  few  became  more  conspicuous,  than  the 
still. youthful  Follen,  who  had  scarcely  entered  upon  his 
professional  career.  He  boldly  claimed  for  his  fellow- 
subjects  of  Hesse  Darmstadt  a  mitigation  of  the  feudal 
tenures  under  which  they  were  oppressed.  Thus  he  in 
curred  the  displeasure  of  the  Grand  Duke.  But  the 
farmers  of  that  country  gratefully  acknowledged  the 
importance  of  his  service  in  letters  that  are  still  ex 
tant. 

In  1817,  when  twenty-two  years  of  age,  he  took  his 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  and  became  a  teacher  in  the 
University  of  Jena.  Here  he  found  an  atmosphere  con 
genial  to  his  free  spirit.  The  most  distinguished  profes 
sors  there  were  friends  of  liberal  institutions.  And  the 
Duke  of  Saxe-Weimar  was  for  a  while  indulgent  towards 
them.  At  Jena  appeared  the  first  periodical  publications 
that  disturbed  the  diplomatists  of  Frankfort  and  Vienna. 
To  these  publications  Dr.  Follen  contributed,  and,  even 
among  such  men  as  Dr.  Oken  and  Professors  Fries  and 
Luden,  he  distinguished  himself  as  an  advocate  of  the 
rights  of  man. 

The  sovereigns  of  Austria  and  Prussia  were  alarmed. 
The  professors  of  the  University  at  Jena  were  proscribed, 
and  the  young  men  of  Austria  and  Prussia  who  were 
students  there  were  required  to  leave  the  infected  spot. 
The  persecution  of  Dr.  Follen  was  carried  further.  An 
attempt  was  made  to  involve  him  in  the  guilt  of  the  de 
luded  murderer  of  Kotzebue,  "  that  unblushing  hireling 
of  the  Russian  Autocrat,"  and  he  was  arrested  on  the 


DR.   CHARLES  FOLLEN.  251 

charge.  He  was  fully  exonerated,  but  the  spirit  which 
dictated  his  arrest  made  it  uncomfortable  for  him  to  re 
main  in  Germany. 

He  went  to  Switzerland,  the  resort  of  the  free  spirits 
of  that  day,  and  was  appointed  Professor  of  Civil  Law 
at  the  University  of  Basle.  Here  he  continued,  both  in 
his  lectures  and  through  the  press,  to  give  utterance  to 
his  liberal  opinions.  Consequently,  in  August,  1824,  the 
governments  of  Prussia,  Austria,  and  Russia  demanded 
of  the  government  of  Basle  to  deliver  him  up,  with  the 
other  Professors  of  Law  in  their  university.  At  first 
this  demand  was  refused.  But,  being  afterwards  en 
forced  by  a  threat  of  the  serious  displeasure  of  the 
allied  powers,  it  was  yielded  to,  and  Dr.  Follen  was  com 
pelled  to  depart,  with  no  reproach  upon  his  character  but 
that  which  was  cast  upon  it  by  the  enemies  of  freedom. 
Exiled  from  Germany  as  the  dreaded  foe  of  the  oppres 
sors  of  his  country,  hunted  by  the  allied  sovereigns  out 
of  Europe,  as  if  their  thrones  were  insecure  while  he 
dwelt  on  the  same  continent  with  themselves  —  surely 
the  man  who  made  himself  such  a  terror  to  despots  was 
entitled  to  a  carte-Uanche  on  the  confidence  of  free 
men  ! 

Thus  recommended,  he  came  to  our  country  in  Decem 
ber,  1824,  a  few  months  after  the  arrival  of  Lafayette. 
The  illustrious  Frenchman  came  to  feast  his  eyes  and  re 
joice  his  heart  with  the  sight  of  the  astonishing  growth 
and  unexampled  prosperity  of  the  nation  for  whose  de 
liverance  from  a  foreign  yoke  he  had  in  his  early  man 
hood  lavished  his  fortune  and  exposed  his  life.  The 
illustrious  German  came,  as  it  proved,  to  assist  in  a  great 
moral  enterprise,  the  success  of  which  was  indispensably 
necessary  to  complete  the  American  Revolution,  and 
verify  the  truths  which  it  declared  to  the  world. 

Nearly  a  year  after  his  arrival  he  spent  in  Philadelphia 


252  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

perfecting  himself  in  the  language  of  our  country.  But 
by  the  advice  of  Lafayette,  who  highly  esteemed  him,  he 
came  to  Boston,  and  in  December,  1825,  was  appointed 
teacher  of  the  German  language  in  Harvard  College, 
where,  in  1830,  he  was  raised  to  a  professorship  of  Ger 
man  literature. 

He  had  not  been  long  in  the  United  States  before  he 
was  struck  by  the  contrast  between  our  institutions  and 
our  habits  of  thought  and  conversation.  He  was  sur 
prised  that  he  so  seldom  met  with  a  free  mind,  or  saw  an 
individual  who  acted  independently.  Most  persons  seemed 
to  be  in  bonds  to  a  political  party  or  a  religious  sect,  or 
both.  "  I  perceive,"  said  he  to  an  intimate  friend,  "  that 
liberty  in  this  country  is  a  fact  rather  than  a  principle." 

Such  a  soul  as  Dr.  Follen  could  not  be  indifferent  to  any 
movement  tending  to  liberate  more  than  three  millions 
of  people  in  the  country,  of  which  he  had  become  a  citi 
zen,  from  the  most  abject  cruel  slavery,  and  his  fellow- 
citizens  from  the  awful  iniquity  of  keeping  them  in  such 
bondage.  The  bugle-blast  of  The  Liberator  in  1831  sum 
moned  him  to  the  conflict.  Worldly  wisdom,  prudential 
considerations,  would  have  withheld  him  if  he  had  been 
like  too  many  other  men.  He  had  then  been  in  a  pro 
fessor's  chair  at  Cambridge  about  a  year.  He  had  mar 
ried  a  lady  ^worthy  of  his  love.  He  had  become  a  father. 
He  had  made  many  friends.  He  was  admired  for  his  rich 
and  varied  endowments,  his  extensive  and  accurate  knowl 
edge,  and  sound  understanding.  He  was  honored  for  his 
exertions  and  sacrifices  in  the  cause  of  liberty  in  Europe. 
He  was  cherished  as  an  invaluable  acquisition  to  the  liter 
ature  of  our  country,  and  as  a  most  successful  teacher  of 
youth.  How  obvious,  then,  that  he  had  as  many  reasons 
as  any,  and  more  reasons  than  most,  for  remaining  quiet, 
contenting  himself  with  an  occasional  sigh  over  the  wrongs 
of  the  slaves,  or  an  eloquent  condemnation  of  slavery  in 


DR.   CHARLES  FOLLEN.  253 

the  abstract,  or  the  utterance  of  the  form  of  prayer,  — 
that  the  Sovereign  Disposer  of  all  events  would,  in  his 
own  good  time,  cause  every  yoke  to  be  broken  and  op 
pression  to  cease.  He  was  occupying  a  sphere  of  great 
responsibility,  where,  as  wTas  intimated  to  him,  he  might 
find  enough  to  fill  even  the  large  measure  of  his  ability 
for  labor.  Then  he  was  wholly  dependent  upon  his  own 
exertions  for  the  support  of  his  family.  Moreover,  being 
a  foreigner  by  birth,  he  was  reminded  that  it  was  less  dec 
orous  in  him,  than  it  might  be  in  others,  to  meddle  with 
the  "  delicate  question  "  which  touched  so  vitally  the 
institutions  of  a  very  sensitive  portion  of  the  country. 

But  Charles  Follen  was  a  genuine  man.  In  godly  sin 
cerity  he  felt  as  well  as  said,  "  that  whatever  affected  the 
welfare  of  mankind  was  a  matter  of  concern  to  himself." 
He  was  astonished  at  the  apathy  of  so  large  a  portion  of 
the  respectable  and  professedly  religious  of  our  country 
to  the  wretched  condition  of  more  than  a  sixth  part  of 
the  population,  to  the  disastrous  influence  of  their  en 
slavement  upon  the  characters  of  their  immediate  op 
pressors,  upon  the  well-being  of  the  whole  Republic,  and 
the  cause  of  liberty  throughout  the  world.  When,  there 
fore,  the  words  of  Garrison  came  to  his  ears,  "  he  rejoiced 
in  spirit  and  said,  I  thank  thee,  0  Father,  that  thou  hast 
hid  these  things  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  hast  re 
vealed  them  unto  the  babes ;  even  so,  Father,  for  so  it 
seemed  good  in  thy  sight."  He  sought  out  the  editor 
of  The  Liberator.  He  clambered  up  into  his  little  cham 
ber  in  Merchants'  Hall,  where  were  his  writing-desk,  his 
types,  his  printing-press  ;  and  where,  with  the  faithful 
partner  of  his  early  toils,  Isaac  Knapp,  he  was  living  like 
the  four  children  of  Israel  in  the  midst  of  the  corruptions 
of  Babylon,  living  on  pulse  and  water.  This  was  a  sight 
to  fill  with  hope  Follen's  sagacious  soul.  While,  there 
fore,  many  who  counted  themselves  servants  of  God  and 


254  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT.  } 

friends  of  humanity  thought,  or  affected  to  think,  that  no 
good  could  come  out  of  such  a  Nazareth,  he  often  went 
to  The  Liberator  office  to  converse  with  and  encourage  the 
young  man  who  had  dared  to  brave  the  contumely  and 
detestation  of  the  world  in  "  preaching  deliverance  to  the 
captives  and  liberty  to  them  that  are  bruised." 

He  stopped  not  to  inquire  how  it  might  affect  his  tem 
poral  interests,  or  even  his  good  name,  to  espouse  so  un 
popular  a  cause.  "Some  men,"  said  he,  "  are  so  afraid 
of  doing  wrong  that  they  never  do  right."  The  shame 
ful  fact,  that  the  cause  of  millions  of  enslaved  human  be 
ings  in  a  country  that  made  such  high  pretensions  to 
liberty  as  ours  was  unpopular,  so  astonished  and  alarmed 
him  that  he  felt  all  the  more  called  to  rise  above  personal 
considerations.  Therefore,  soon  after  the  New  England 
Antislavery  Society  was  instituted,  he  made  known  his 
intention  to  join  it.  Some  friends  remonstrated.  They 
admonished  him  that  so  doing  would  be  very  detrimental 
to  his  professional  success.  He  hesitated  a  little  while 
on  account  of  his  wife.  But  that  gifted,  high-minded, 
whole-hearted  lady  reproved  the  hesitation,  and  bade 
him  act  in  accordance  with  his  sense  of  duty,  and  in 
keeping  with  his  long  devotion  to  the  cause  of  liberty 
and  humanity.  He  joined  the  society,  became  one  of  its 
vice-presidents,  was  an  efficient  officer,  and  rendered  us 
invaluable  services.  At  that  time  I  became  intimately 
acquainted  with  him,  and  soon  learned  to  love  him  ten 
derly  and  respect  him  profoundly. 

The  apprehensions  of  his  friends  proved  to  be  too  well 
founded.  The  funds  for  the  support  of  his  professorship 
at  Cambridge  were  withheld  ;  and  he  was  obliged  to  re 
tire  from  a  position  which  had  been  most  agreeable  to 
himself,  for  which  he  was  admirably  qualified,  and  in 
which  he  had  been  exceedingly  useful.  It  was  a  severe 
trial  to  his  feelings,  and  the  loss  of  his  salary  subjected 


DR.   CHARLES  FOLLEN.  255 

him  to  no  little  inconvenience.  But  liberty,  the  rights 
of  man,  and  his  sense  of  duty  were  more  precious  to 
him  than  physical  comforts  or  even  life. 

In  May,  1834,  was  held  in  Boston  the  first  New  Eng 
land  Antislavery  Convention.  It  was  a  large  gathering. 
Dr.  Follen  was  one  of  the  committee  of  arrangements, 
and  evinced  great  interest  in  making  the  meeting  effec 
tive.*  He  was  also  appointed  Chairman  of  the  "  address  " 
that  was  ordered  "  to  the  people  of  the  United  States," 
and  was  the  writer  of  it.  His  spirit  breathes  throughout 
it.  It  showed  how  wholly  committed  he  was  to  the  en 
terprise  of  the  Abolitionists,  how  thoroughly  he  under 
stood  the  principles  on  which  we  had  from  the  first 
relied,  and  how  unfeignedly  he  desired  to  make  them 
acceptable  to  his  fellow-citizens  by  the  most  lucid  expo 
sition  of  them,  and  the  most  earnest  presentation  of 
their  importance. 

In  1835  and  1836  I  was  the  General  Agent  of  the  So 
ciety.  This  brought  me  into  a  much  closer  connection 
with  him.  It  was  during  the  most  stormy  period,  —  the 
time  that  tried  men's  souls.  I  have  given  some  account 
of  it  in  previous  articles,  and  have  made  some  allusions 
to  Dr.  Follen's  fidelity  and  fearlessness.  He  never 
quailed.  His  countenance  always  wore  its  accustomed 
expression  of  calm  determination.  He  aided  us  by  his 
counsels,  animated  us  by  his  resolute  spirit,  and  strength 
ened  us  by  the  heart-refreshing  tones  of  his  voice.  In 
this  crisis  it  was,  at  our  annual  meeting  in  January, 
1836,  that  he  made  his  bravest  speech.  There  was  not 
a  word,  not  a  tone,  not  a  look  of  compromise  in  it.  He 
met  our  opponents  at  the  very  points  where  some  of  our 

*  I  am  most  happy  to  preserve  and  make  known  the  fact  that  Dr. 
Henry  Ware,  Jr.,  then  at  the  head  of  the  Divinity  School,  and  Profes 
sor  Sidney  Willard,  of  the  college  in  Cambridge,  were  also  members 
of  that  Convention. 


256  ANTISL AVERT  CONFLICT. 

friends  thought  us  deserving  of  blame,  and  he  manfully 
maintained  every  inch  of  our  ground.  That  speech  may 
be  found  in  the  Appendix  to  the  Memoir  of  his  life.  It 
is  not  easy  even  for  us  to  recall,  and  it  is  impossible  to 
give  to  those  who  were  not  Abolitionists  then,  a  clear  idea 
of  the  state  of  the  community  at  the  time  the  above- 
named  speech  was  made.  The  culmination  of  our  trials 
was  the  sanction  which  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts 
gave  to  the  opinion  of  one  of  the  judges,  that  we  had 
committed  acts  that  were  punishable  at  common  law.  I 
have  given  some  description  of  the  scenes  that  were  wit 
nessed  in  the  Hall  of  Representatives.  Dr.  Follen  dis 
tinguished  himself  there.  We  can  never  cease  to  be 
grateful  to  him  for  his  pertinacity  in  withstanding  the 
aggressive  overbearance  of  the  Chairman  of  the  joint- 
committee  of  the  Senate  and  House  appointed  to  con 
sider  our  remonstrance  against  Governor  Everett's  con 
demnation  of  us.  I  have  sometimes  thought  it  was  the 
turning-point  of  our  affairs  in  the  old  Commonwealth. 

Soon  afterwards  Dr.  Follen  removed  to  New  York  and 
became  pastor  of  the  first  Unitarian  church.  It  was  a 
situation  so  eligible,  and  in  every  respect  so  desirable  to 
him,  that  many  supposed  he  would  suffer  his  Abolition 
ism  to  become  latent,  or  at  least  would  refrain  from  giv 
ing  full  and  free  expression  to  it  in  the  pulpit.  They 
knew  not  the  man.  He  did  there  as  he  had  done  else 
where.  Modestly,  mildly,  yet  distinctly,  he  avowed  his 
antislavery  sentiments,  and  endeavored  to  make  his  hear 
ers  perceive  how  imperative  was  the  obligation  pressing 
upon  them  as  patriots,  scarcely  less  than  as  Christians, 
to  do  all  in  their  power  to  exterminate  slavery  from  our 
country.  He  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Executive 
Committee  of  the  American  Antislavery^  Society,  and 
promptly  accepted  the  appointment.  The  members  of 
that  Board  testified  that  "  his  sound  judgment,  his  dis- 


DR.   CHARLES   FOLLEN.  257 

criminating  intellect,  his  amenity  of  manners,  and  his 
uncommonly  single-hearted  integrity  greatly  endeared 
him  to  his  associates."  Yet  was  the  offence  he  gave  by 
his  antislavery  preaching  such  that,  after  about  two 
years,  his  services  were  dispensed  with  by  the  Unitarian 
church. 

He  returned  to  Massachusetts,  and  soon  interested  so 
highly  the  liberal  Christians  at  East  Lexington  that  he 
•was  invited  to  become  their  pastor.  They  set  about  in 
1839  the  building  of  a  meeting-house,  in  accordance  with 
his  taste,  and  after  a  plan  which  I  believe  he  furnished. 
The  15th  day  of  January,  1840,  was  fixed  upon  as  the 
day  for  the  dedication,  and  Dr.  Channing  was  engaged 
to  preach  on  the  occasion. 

In  December  Dr.  Follen  went  to  New  York  and  deliv 
ered  a  course  of  lectures.  On  the  evening  of  the  13th 
of  January  he  embarked  on  board  the  ill-omened  steam 
er  Lexington  to  return.  She  took  fire  in  the  night,  and 
all  the  passengers  and  crew  excepting  three  perished  in 
the  flames,  or  in  their  attempts  to  escape  from  them. 
Dr.  Follen,  alas !  was  not  one  of  the  three. 

The  grief  and  consternation  caused  by  that  awful 
catastrophe  need  not  be  described.  Few  if  any  persons 
in  the  community  had  so  great  cause  for  sorrow  as  the 
Abolitionists.  One  of  the  towers  of  our  strength  had 
fallen.  The  greatness  of  our  loss  was  dwelt  upon  at  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  a  few  days 
afterward,  and  it  was  unanimously  voted  :  "  That  an 
address  on  the  life  and  character  of  Charles  Follen,  and 
in  particular  upon  his  early  and  eminent  services  to  the 
cause  of  abolition,  be  delivered  by  such  person  and  at 
such  time  and  place  as  the  Board  of  Managers  shall  ap 
point."  Their  appointment  fell  upon  me,  and  I  was  re 
quested  to  give  notice  so  soon  as  my  eulogy  should  be 
written.  I  gave  such  a  notice  early  in  February,  when  I 

Q 


258  ANTISL AVERT  CONFLICT. 

was  informed  by  the  managers  that  they  had  not  yet 
been  able  to  procure  a  suitable  place,  for  such  a  service 
as  they  wished  to  have  in  connection  with  my  discourse. 
They  had  applied  for  the  use  of  every  one  of  the  Unita 
rian  and  for  several  of  the  Orthodox  churches  in  Boston, 
and  all  had  been  refused  them.  It  was  said  that  Dr. 
Channing  did  obtain  from  the  trustees  of  Federal  Street 
Church  consent  that  the  eulogy  on  Dr.  Follen,  whom 
he  esteemed  so  highly,  might  be  pronounced  from  his 
pulpit.  But  another  meeting  of  the  trustees,  or  of  the 
proprietors,  was  called,  and  that  permission  was  re 
voked.  More  sad  still  the  meeting-house  at  East  Lex 
ington,  which  had  been  built  under  his  direction,  which 
he  was  coming  from  New  York  to  dedicate,  and  in  which 
he  was  to  have  preached  as  the  pastor  of  the  church  if 
his  life  had  been  spared,  —  even  that  meeting-house  was 
refused  for  a  eulogy  and  other  appropriate  exercises  in 
commemoration  of  the  early  and  eminent  services  of 
Dr.  Follen  to  the  cause  of  freedom  and  humanity  in 
Europe,  and  more  especially  in  our  country.  Such  was 
the  temper  of  that  time,  such  the  opposition  of  the 
people  in  and  about  the  metropolis  of  New  England  to 
Mr.  Garrison  and  his  associates. 

In  consequence  of  this  treatment  by  the  churches,  and 
as  a  protest  against  it,  the  Board  of  Managers  deter 
mined  to  defer  the  delivery  of  the  eulogy,  until  the 
meeting-house  of  some  religious  body  in  Boston  should 
be  granted  for  that  purpose.  No  door  was  unbarred  to 
us  for  more  than  two  months.  In  April  one  of  our  fellow- 
laborers,  Hon.  Amasa  "Walker,  having  become  one  of  the 
proprietors  of  Marlborough  Chapel,  succeeded  in  getting 
permission  for  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society, 
and  other  friends  of  Dr.  Follen,  to  meet  in  that  central 
and  very  ample  room  on  the  evening  of  the  17th  of 
April,  there  to  express  in  prayer,  in  eulogy,  and  hymns 


WHITTIER  AND   THE  ANTISLAVERY  POETS.      259 

our  gratitude  ~to  the  Father  of  spirits  for  the  gift  of 
such  a  brother,  so  able,  so  devoted,  so  self-sacrificing ; 
to  attempt  some  delineation  of  his  admirable  character, 
some  acknowledgment  of  his  inestimable  services,  and 
thus  make  manifest*  our  deep  sense  of  bereavement 
and  loss  occasioned  by  his  sudden  and  as  we  supposed 
dreadful  death. 

It  so  happened  that  the  17th  of  April,  1840,  was 
Good  Friday,  —  a  most  appropriate  day  on  which  to 
mourn  the  death  and  commemorate  the  glorious  life  of 
one  who  had  been  so  true  a  disciple  of  Him,  who  was 
crucified  on  Calvary  for  his  fidelity  to  God  and  to  the 
redemption  of  man. 

The  assemblage  was  large,  estimated  by  some  at  two 
thousand.  A  prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  Henry  Ware, 
Jr.,  —  such  a  prayer  as  we  expected  would  rise  from  the 
large,  liberal,  loving,  devout  heart  of  that  excellent  man. 
A  most  appropriate  hymn,  written  by  himself,  was  then 
read  by  Rev.  John  Pierpont.  After  my  discourse  was 
delivered  another  touching  hymn  from  the  pen,  or  rather 
the  heart,  of  Mrs.  Maria  W.  Chapman  was  read  by  Rev. 
Dr.  Channing,  and  sung  very  impressively  by  the  con 
gregation,  after  which  the  services  were  closed  by  a 
benediction  from  Rev.  J.  V.  Himes,  a  zealous  antislav- 
ery  brother  of  the  Christian  denomination. 

JOHN  G.  WHITTIER  AND  THE  ANTISLAVERY 
POETS. 

All  great  reformations  have  had  their  bards.  The 
Hebrew  prophets  were  poets.  They  clothed  their  terri 
ble  denunciations  of  national  iniquities  and  their  confi 
dent  predictions  of  the  ultimate  triumph  of  truth  and 
righteousness  in  imagery  so  vivid  that  it  will  never  fade. 
Mr.  Garrison  was  bathed  in  their  spirit  when  a  child  by 


260  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

his  pious  mother.  He  is  a  poet  and  an  ardent  lover  of 
poetry.  The  columns  of  The  Liberator,  from  the  begin 
ning,  were  every  week  enriched  by  gems  in  verse,  not 
unfrequently  the  product  of  his  own  rapt  soul.  No  sen 
timent  inspires  men  to  such  exalted  strains  as  the  love 
of  liberty.  Many  of  the  early  Abolitionists  uttered 
themselves  in  fervid  lines  of  poetry,  —  Mrs.  M.  W.  Chap 
man,  Mrs.  E.  L.  Follen,  Miss  E.  M.  Chandler,  Miss  A. 
G.  Chapman,  Misses  C.  and  A.  E.  Weston,  Mrs.  L.  M. 
Child,  Mrs.  Maria  Lowell,  Miss  Mary  Ann  Collier,  and 
others,  male  and  female.  In  1836  —  the  time  that  tried 
men's  souls  —  Mrs.  Chapman  gathered  into  a  volume 
the  effusions  of  the  above-named,  together  with  those  of 
kindred  spirits  in  other  lands  and  other  times.  The  vol 
ume  was  entitled,  "Songs  of  the  Free  and  Hymns  of 
Christian  Freedom."  Many  of  these  songs  and  hymns 
will  live  so  long  as  oppression  of  every  kind  is  abhorred, 
and  men  aspire  after  true  liberty.  This  book  was  a  pow 
erful  weapon  in  our  moral  welfare.  My  memory  glows 
with  the  recollections  of  the  fervor,  and  often  obvious 
effect,  with  which  we  used  to  sing  in  true  accord  the 
13th  hymn,  by  Miss  E.  M.  Chandler:  — 

"  Think  of  our  country's  glory 

All  dimmed  with  Afric's  tears! 
Her  broad  flag  stained  and  gory 
With  the  hoarded  guilt  of  years !  " 

Or  the  15th,  by  Mr.  Garrison  :  — 

"  The  hour  of  freedom !  come  it  must. 

0,  hasten  it  in  mercy,  Heaven ! 
When  all  who  grovel  in  the  dust 
Shall  stand  erect,  their  fetters  riven." 

Or  the  7th,  by  Mrs.  Follen  :  — 

"  '  What  mean  ye,  that  ye  bruise  and  bind 

My  people,'  saith  the  Lord; 
'  And  starve  your  craving  brother's  miud, 
That  asks  to  hear  my  word?  '  " 


WHITTIER  AND   THE  ANTISLAVERY  POETS.      261 

Or  the  102d,  by  Mrs.  Chapman  :  — 

"Hark!  hark!  to  the  trumpet  call,— 

'  Arise  in  the  name  of  God  most  high !' 
On  ready  hearts  the  deep  notes  fall, 

And  firm  and  full  is  the  strong  reply: 
'  The  hour  is  at  hand  to  do  and  dare ! 

Bound  with  the  bondmen  now  are  we ! 
We  may  not  utter  the  patriot's  prayer, 

Or  bend  in  the  house  of  God  the  knee ! '  " 

Or  that  stirring  song,  by  Mr.  Garrison  :  — 
"I  am  an  Abolitionist; 
I  glory  in  the  name." 

The  singing  of  such  hymns  and  songs  as  these  waa 
like  the  bugle's  blast  to  an  army  ready  for  battle.  No 
one  seemed  unmoved.  If  there  were  any  faint  hearts 
amongst  us,  they  were  hidden  by  the  flush  of  excitement 
and  sympathy. 

In  1838  or  1839  Mrs.  Chapman,  assisted  by  her  sis 
ters,  the  Misses  Weston,  and  Mrs.  Child,  commenced  the 
publication  of  The  Liberty  Bell.  A  volume  with  this 
title  was  issued  annually  by  them  for  ten  or  twelve  years, 
especially  for  sale  at  the  yearly  antislavery  fair.  These 
volumes  were  full  of  poetry  in  prose  and  verse.  The 
editors  levied  contributions  upon  the  true-hearted  of 
other  countries  besides  our  own,  and  enriched  their  pages 
with  articles  from  the  pens  of  all  the  above-named,  and 
from  Whittier,  Pierpont,  Lowell,  Longfellow,  Phillips, 
Quincy,  Clarke,  Sewall,  Adams,  Channing,  Bradburn, 
Pillsbury,  Rogers,  Wright,  Parker,  Stowe,  Emerson,  Fur- 
ness,  Higginson,  Sargent,  Jackson,  Stone,  Whipple,  our 
own  countrymen  and  women  ;  and  Bowring,  Martineau, 
Thompson,  Browning,  Combe,  Sturge,  Webb,  Lady  By 
ron,  and  others,  of  England ;  and  Arago,  Michelet, 
Monod,  Beaumont,  Souvestre,  Paschoud,  and  others,  of 
France.  It  would  not  be  easy  to  find  elsewhere  so  full 
a  treasury  of  mental  and  moral  jewels. 

The  names  of  most  of  our  illustrious  American  poets 


262  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

appear  in  The  Liberty  Bell  more  or  less  frequently.  To 
all  of  th5m  we  were  and  are  much  indebted.  James 
Russell  Lowell  was  never,  I  believe,  a  member  of  the 
Antislavery  Society.  He  was  seldom  seen  at  our  meet 
ings.  But  his  muse  rendered  us  essential  services.  His 
poems  —  "  The  Present  Crisis,"  "  On  the  Capture  of 
Fugitive  Slaves  near  Washington,"  "On  the  Death  of 
Charles  T.  Torrey,"  "To  John  G.  Palfrey,"  and  es 
pecially  his  "  Lines  to  William  L.  Garrison,"  and  his 
"Stanzas  sung  at  the  Antislavery  Picnic  in  Dedham, 
August  1,  1843  "  —committed  him  fully  to  the  cause 
of  freedom,  —  the  cause  of  our  enslaved  countrymen. 

Rev.  John  Pierpont  gave  us  his  hand  at  an  earlier  day. 
He  took  upon  himself  "our  reproach"  in  1836,  when 
we  most  needed  help.  I  have  already  made  grateful 
mention  of  his  "  Word  from  a  Petitioner,"  sent  to  me  by 
the  hand  of  the  heroic  Francis  Jackson  in  the  midst  of 
the  convention  of  the  constituents  of  Hon.  J.  Q.  Adams, 
called  at  Quincy  to  assure  their  brave,  invincible  repre 
sentative  of  their  deep,  admiring  sense  of  obligation  to 
him  for  his  persistent  and  almost  single-handed  defence 
of  the  sacred  right  of  petition  on  the  floor  of  Congress. 

Mr.  Pierpont's  next  was  a  tocsin  in  deed  as  well  as  in 
name.  He  was  impelled  to  strike  his  lyre  by  the  alarm 
he  justly  felt  at  the  tidings  from  Alton  of  the  destruc 
tion  of  Mr.  Lovejoy's  antislavery  printing-office,  and  the 
murder  of  the  devoted  proprietor.  His  indignation  was 
roused  yet  more  by  the  burning  of  "  Pennsylvania  Hall " 
in  Philadelphia,  and  the  shameful  fact  that  at  the  same 
time,  1838,  no  church  or  decent  hall  could  be  obtained  in 
Boston  for  "  love  or  money,"  in  which  to  hold  an  anti- 
slavery  meeting  ;  but  we  were  compelled  to  resort  to  an 
inconvenient  and  insufficient  room  over  the  stable  of 
Marl  borough  Hotel. 

His  next  powerful  effusion  was  The  Gag,  a  caustic  and 


WHITTIER  AND   THE  ANTISLAVERY   POETS.      2G3 

scathing  satire  upon  the  Hon.  C.  G.  Atherton,  of  New 
Hampshire,  for  his-  base  attempt  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  at  Washington  to  put  an  entire  stop  to  any  dis 
cussion  of  the  subject  of  slavery. 

His  next  piece  was  The  Chain,  a  most  touching  com 
parison  of  the  wrongs  and  sufferings  of  the  slaves  with 
other  evils  that  injured  men  have  been  made  to  endure. 

Then  followed  The  Fugitive  Slave's  Apostrophe  to  the 
North  Star,  which  showed  how  deeply  he  sympathized 
with  the  many  hundreds  of  our  countrymen  who,  to  escape 
from  slavery,  had  toiled  through  dismal  swamps,  thick 
set  canebrakes,  deep  rivers,  tangled  forests,  alone,  by 
night,  hungry,  almost  naked  and  penniless,  guided  only 
by  the  steady  light  of  the  polar  star,  which  some  kind 
friend  had  taught  them  to  distinguish,  and  had  assured 
them  would  be  an  unerring  leader  to  a  land  of  liberty. 
They  who  have  heard  the  narratives  of  such  as  have  so 
escaped  need  not  be  told  that  Mr.  Pierpont  must  have 
had  the  tale  poured  through  his  ear  into  his  generous 
heart.* 

But  of  all  our  American  poets,  John  G.  Whittier  has 
from  first  to  last  done  most  for  the  abolition  of  slavery. 
All  my  antislavery  brethren,  I  doubt  not,  will  unite  with 
me  to  crown  him  our  laureate.  From  1832  to  the  close 
of  our  dreadful  war  in  18G5  his  harp  of  liberty  was 
never  hung  up.  Not  an  important  occasion  escaped  him. 
Every  significant  incident  drew  from  his  heart  some  pcr- 

*  Would  that  justice  would  allow  shame  to  wipe  forever  from  the 
memory  of  man  the  disgraceful  fact  that,  on  the  27th  of  July,  1£40, 
the  Rev.  John  Pierpont  was  arraigned  before  an  Ecclesiastical  Council 
in  Boston,  by  a  committee  of  the  parish  of  Hollis  Street,  as  guilty  of 
offences  for  which  his  connection  with  that  parish  ought  to  be  dissolved, 
—  and  was  dissolved.  His  offences  were  "his  too  busy  interference 
with  questions  of  legislation  on  the  subject  of  prohibiting  the  sale  of 
ardent  spirits,  his  too  busy  interference  with  questions  of  legislation  on 
the  subject  of  imprisonment  for  debt,  find  his  too  busy  interference  with 
the  popular  controversy  on  the  subject  of  the  abolition  of  slavery." 


264       .  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

tincnt  and  often  very  impressive  or  rousing  verses.  His 
name  appears  in  the  first  volume  of  The  Liberator,  with 
high  commendations  of  his  poetry  and  his  character.  As 
early  as  1831  he  was  attracted  to  Mr.  Garrison  by  sym 
pathy  with  his  avowed  purpose  to  abolish  slavery.  Their 
acquaintance  soon  ripened  into  a  heartfelt  friendship,  as 
he  declared  in  the  following  lines,  written  in  1833  :  — 

"  Champion  of  those  who  groan  beneath 

Oppression's  iron  hand: 
In  view  of  penury,  hate,  and  death, 

I  see  thee  fearless  stand. 
Still  bearing  up  thy  lofty  brow, 

In  the  steadfast  strength  of  truth, 
In  manhood  sealing  well  the  vow 

And  promise  of  thy  youth. 

"  I  love  thee  with  a  brother's  love ; 

I  feel  my  pulses  thrill, 
To  mark  thy  spirit  soar  above 

The  cloud  of  human  ill. 
My  heart  hath  leaped  to  answer  thine, 

And  echo  back  thy  words, 
As  leaps  the  warrior's  at  the  shine 

And  flash  of  kindred  swords ! 

"  Go  on  —  the  dagger's  point  may  glare 

Amid  thy  pathway's  gloom, — 
The  fate  which  sternly  threatens  there 

Is  glorious  martyrdom ! 
Then  onward  with  a  martyr's  zeal; 

And  wait  thy  sure  reward, 
When  man  to  man  no  more  shall  kneel, 

And  God  alone  be  Lord !  " 

Mr.  Whittier  proved  the  sincerity  of  these  professions. 
He  joined  the  first  antislavery  society  and  became  an  ac 
tive  official.  Notwithstanding  his  dislike  of  public  speak 
ing,  he  sometimes  lectured  at  that  early  day,  when  so  few 
were  found  willing  to  avow  and  advocate  the  right  of 
the  enslaved  to  immediate  liberation  from  bondage  with 
out  the  condition  of  removal  to  Liberia.  Mr.  Whittier 
attended  the  convention  at  Philadelphia  in  December, 


WH1TTIEB  AND   THE  ANTISLAVERY  POETS.      2G5 

1833,  that  formed  the  American  Antislavery  Society. 
He  was  one  of  the  secretaries  of  that  body,  and  a  mem 
ber,  with  Mr.  Garrison,  of  the  committee  appointed  to 
prepare  the  "  Declaration  of  our  Sentiments  and  Pur 
poses."  Although,  as  I  have  elsewhere  stated,  Mr.  Gar 
rison  wrote  almost  every  sentence  of  that  admirable 
document  just  as  it  now  stands,  yet  I  well  remember  the 
intense  interest  with  which  Mr.  Whittier  scrutinized  it, 
and  how  heartily  he  indorsed  it. 

In  1834,  by  his  invitation  I  visited  Haverhill,  where 
he  then  resided.  I  was  his  guest,  and  lectured  under 
his  auspices  in  explanation  and  defence  of  our  abolition 
doctrines  and  plans.  Again  the  next  year,  after  the  mob 
spirit  had  broken  out,  I  went  to  Haverhill  by  his  invi 
tation,  and  he  shared  with  me  in  the  perils  which  I  have 
described  on  a  former  page. 

In  January,  1836,  Mr.  Whittier  attended  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society,  and 
boarded  the  while  in  the  house  where  I  was  living.  He 
heard  Dr.  Follen's  great  speech  on  that  occasion,  and 
came  home  so  much  affected  by  it  that,  either  that  night 
or  the  next  morning,  he  wrote  those  "  Stanzas  for  the 
Times,"  which  are  among  the  best  of  his  produc 
tions: — 

"  Is  this  the  land  our  fathers  loved, 

The  freedom  which  they  toiled  to  win? 
Is  this  the  soil  whereon  they  moved  ? 

Are  these  the  graves  they  slumber  in  ? 
.         Are  we  the  sons  by  whom  are  borne 

The  mantles  which  the  dead  have  worn? 

"  And  shall  we  crouch  above  these  graves 

With  craven  soul  and  fottored  lip? 
Yoke  in  with  marked  and  branded  slaves, 

And  tremble  at  the  driver's  whip? 
Bend  to  the  earth  our  pliant  knees, 
And  speak  but  as  our  masters  please  ? 

12 


266  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

"  Shall  tongues  be  mute  when  deeds  are  wrought 
Which  well  might  shame  extremest  hell? 

Shall  freemen  lock  the  indignant  thought? 
Shall  Pity's  bosom  cease  to  swell  V 

Shall  Honor  bleed?     Shall  Truth  succumb? 

Shall  pen  and  press  and  soul  be  dumb  ? 

"  No ;  —  by  each  spot  of  haunted  ground, 

Where  Freedom  weeps  her  children's  fall,  — 

By  Plymouth's  rock  and  Bunker's  mound, — 
By  Griswold's  stained  and  shattered  waU, — 

By  Warren's  ghost,  —by  Langdon's  shade,— 

By  all  the  memories  of  our  dead ! 

"  By  all  above,  around,  below, 
Be  our  indignant  answer,  —  NO  !  " 

I  can  hardly  refrain  from  giving  my  readers  the  whole 
of  these  stanzas.  But  I  hope  they  all  are,  or  will  at 
once  make  themselves,  familiar  with  them.  As  I  read 
them  now,  they  revive  in  my  bosom  not  the  memory 
only,  but  the  glow  they  kindled  there  when  I  first  pored 
over  them.  Then  his  lines  entitled  "  Massachusetts  to 
Virginia,"  and  those  he  wrote  on  the  adoption  of  Pinck- 
ney's  Resolution,  and  the  passage  of  Calhoun's  Bill, 
excluding  antislavery  newspapers  and  pamphlets  and 
letters  from  the  United  States  Mail,  —  indeed,  all  his 
antislavery  poetry  helped  mightily  to  keep  us  alive  to  our 
high  duties,  and  fired  us  with  holy  resolution.  Let  our 
laureate's  verses  still  be  said  and  sung  throughout  the 
land,  for  if  the  portents  of  the  day  be  true,  our  conflict 
with  the  enemies  of  liberty,  the  oppressors  of  humanity, 
is  not  yet  ended. 

PREJUDICE  AGAINST   COLOR. 

If  the  enslaved  millions  of  our  countrymen  had  been 
white,  the  task  of  emancipating  them  would  have  been 
a  light  one.  But  as  only  colored  persons  were  to  be 
seen  in  that  condition,  and  they  were  ignorant  and  dc- 


PREJUDICE  AGAINST   COLOR.  2G7 

graded,  and  as  all  of  that  complexion,  with  rare  excep 
tions,  even  in  the  free  States,  were  poor,  uneducated, 
and  held  in  servile  relations,  or  engaged  in  only  menial 
employments,  it  had  come  to  be  taken  for  granted  that 
they  were  fitted  only  for  such  things.  It  was  confidently 
assumed  that  they  belonged  to  an  inferior  race  of  beings, 
somewhere  between  monkey  and  man  ;  that  they  were 
made  by  the  Creator  for  our  service,  to  be  hewers  of 
wood  and  drawers  of  water ;  and  pious  ministers,  and 
some  who  were  reputed  to  be  wise  in  the  sacred  Scrip 
tures,  gave  their  sanction  to  the  arrogant  assumption  by 
proving  (to  those  who  were  anxious  to  believe)  that  negroes 
were  descendants  from  the  impious  son  of  Noah,  whom 
that  patriarch  cursed,  and  in  his  wrath  decreed  that  his 
posterity  should  be  the  lowest  of  servants. 

Our  opponents  gave  no  heed  .to  the  glaring  facts,  that 
the  colored  people  were  not  permitted  to  rise  from  their 
low  estate,  were  held  down  by  our  laws,  customs,  and 
contemptuous  treatment.  Not  only  were  they  prevented 
from  engaging  in  any  of  the  lucrative  occupations,  but 
they  were  denied  the  privileges  of  education,  and  hardly 
admitted  to  the  houses  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  the 
impartial  Father  of  all  men. 

I  have  given  in  early  numbers  of  this  series  a  full  ac 
count  of  the  fight  we  had  in  defence  of  the  Canterbury 
School  in  Connecticut.  More  than  a  year  before  that,  a 
number  of  well-qualified  young  men  having  been  refused 
admission  into  Yale  College  and  the  Wesleyan  Seminary 
at  Middletown,  because  of  their  complexion,  the  Rev. 
Simeon  S.  Jocelyn,  one  of  the  best  of  men,  generously 
assisted  by  Arthur  Tappan  and  his  brother  Lewis  Tap- 
pan,  and  others,  endeavored  to  establish  in  New  Haven 
an  institution  for  the  collegiate  education  of  colored 
young  men.  The  benevolent  project  was  so  violently 
opposed  by  "  the  most  respectable  citizens  "  of  the  place, 


2G8  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

Hon.  Judge  Daggett  among  them,  that  it  was  abandoned. 
A  year  or  two  afterwards  the  trustees  of  "  Noyes  Acade 
my,"  in  Plymouth,  New  Hampshire,  after  due  considera 
tion,  consented  to  allow  colored  pupils  to  be  admitted  into 
the  academy.  The  respectable  people  of  the  town  were 
so  incensed,  enraged  by  this  encroachment  upon  the  pre 
rogative  of  white  children,  that,  readily  helped  by  the 
rougher  but  not  baser  sort  of  folks,  they  razed  the 
building  in  which  the  school  was  kept  from  its  founda 
tion  and  carted  it  off  into  a  meadow  or  swamp.  In  none 
of  our  cities,  that  I  was  acquainted  with  before  the  anti- 
slavery  reform  commenced,  were  colored  children  ad 
mitted  into  the  "  common  schools  "  with  white  children. 
Hon.  Horace  Mann  and  his  fellow-laborers  in  the  cause 
of  humanity,  as  well  as  education,  put  this  injustice  to 
shame  in  Massachusetts,  if  not  elsewhere,  and  the  doors 
of  all  public  schools  were  opened  to  the  young,  without 
regard  to  complexion. 

But  this  was  not  the  utmost  of  the  contempt  with 
which  colored  people  were  treated.  They  were  not  per 
mitted  to  ride  in  any  public  conveyances,  stage-coaches, 
omnibuses,  or  railroad-cars,  nor  to  take  passage  on  any 
steamboats  or  sail-packets,  excepting  in  the  steerage  or 
on  deck.  Many  instances  of  extreme  suffering,  as  well 
as  great  inconvenience  and  expense,  to  which  worthy, 
excellent  colored  persons  were  subjected  came  to  the 
knowledge  of  Abolitionists,  and  were  pressed  upon  the 
public  consideration,  until  the  crying  iniquity  was 
abated. 

And  still  there  was  a  deeper  depth  to  the  wrong  we 
did  to  these  innocent  victims  of  prejudice.  In  all  our 
churches  they  were  set  apart  from  the  white  brethren, 
often  in  pews  or  pens,  built  high  up  against  the  ceiling 
in  the  corners  back  of  the  congregation,  so  that  the  fa 
vored  ones  who  came  to  worship  the  "  impartial  Father  " 


PREJUDICE  AGAINST   COLOR.  269 

of  all  men  might  not  be  offended  at  the  sight  of  those 
to  whom  in  his  inscrutable  wisdom  he  had  given  a  dark 
complexion. 

There  was  quite  an  excitement  caused  in  the  Federal 
Street  Church  in  1822  or  1823,  because  one  of  the  very 
wealthy  merchants  of  Boston  introduced  into  his  pew  in 
the  broad  aisle,  one  Sunday,  a  black  gentleman.  To  be 
sure  he  was  richly  dressed,  and  had  a  handsome  person, 
but  he  was  black,  —  very  black. 

"  That  Sunday's  sermon  all  was  lost, 
The  very  text  forgot  by  most." 

The  refined  and  sensitive  were  much  disturbed,  of 
fended,  felt  Chat ,  their  sacred  rights  had  been  invaded. 
They  upbraided  their  neighbor  for  having  so  egregiously 
violated  the  propriety  of  the  sacred  place,  and  given 
their  feelings  such  a  shock.  "  Why,"  said  the  merchant, 
"  what  else  could  I  do  1  That  man,  though  black,  is,  as 
you  must  have  seen,  a  gentleman.  He  is  well  educated, 
of  polished  manners.  He  comes  from  a  foreign  country 
a  visitor  to  our  city.  He  has  long  been  a  business  cor 
respondent  of  mine."  "  Then  he  is  very  rich."  "  Why, 
bless  you,  he  is  worth  a  million.  How  could  I  send 
such  a  gentleman  up  into  the  negro  pew  1 " 

In  1835,  if  I  remember  correctly,  a  wealthy  and  pious 
colored  man  bought  a  pew  on  the  floor  of  Park  Street 
Church.  It  caused  great  disturbance.  Some  of  his 
neighbors  nailed  up  the  door  of  his  pew  ;  and  so  many  of 
"the  aggrieved  brethren"  threatened  to  leave  the  society, 
if  they  could  not  be  relieved  of  such  an  offence,  that 
the  trustees  were  obliged  to  eject  the  colored  purchaser. 
Another  of  the  churches*  of  Boston;  admonished  by 
the  above-mentioned  occurrence,  inserted  in  their  pew- 
deeds  a  clause,  providing  that  they  should  "  be  held  by 
none  but  respectable  white  persons." 

*  The  one  of  which  Rev.  Baron  Stow,  D.  D.,  was  pastor. 


270  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

Belonging  to  the  society  to  which  I  ministered  in 
Connecticut  was  a  very  worthy  colored  family.  They 
were 'condemned  to  sit  only  in  the  negro  pew,  which  was 
as  far  back  from  the  rest  of  the  congregation  as  it  could 
be  placed.  Being  blessed  with  a  numerous  family,  as  the 
children  grew  up  they  were  uncomfortably  crowded  in 
that  pew.  Our  church  occupied  the  old  meeting-house, 
which  was  somewhat  larger  than  we  needed,  so  that  the 
congregation  were  easily  accommodated  on  the  lower  floor. 
Only  the  choir  sat  in  the  gallery,  except  on  extraordinary 
occasions.  I  therefore  invited  my  colored  parishioners 
to  occupy  one  of  the  large,  front  pews  in  the  side-gallery. 
They  hesitated  some  time,  lest  their  doing  so  should 
give  offence.  But  I  insisted  that  none  would  have  any 
right  to  be  offended,  and  at  length  persuaded  them  to 
do  as  I  requested.  But  one  man,  a  political  partisan  of 
the  leader  of  Miss  Crandall's  persecutors,  was  or  pre 
tended  to  be  much  offended.  He  said  with  great  warmth, 
"  How  came  that  nigger  family  to  come  down  into  that 
front  pew  ] "  "  Because,"  I  replied,  "  it  was  unoccupied  ; 
they  were  uncomfortably  crowded  in  the  pew  assigned 
them,  and  I  requested  them  to  remove."  "  Well,"  said 
he,  "  there  are  many  in  the  society  besides  myself  who 
will  not  consent  to  their  sitting  there."  "  Why  1 "  I 
asked.  "  They  are  always  well  dressed,  well  behaved, 
and  good-looking  withal."  "  But,"  said  he,  "  they  are 
niggers,  and  niggers  should  be  kept  to  their  place."  I 
argued  the  matter  with  him  till  I  saw  he  could  not  be 
moved,  and  he  repeated  the  declaration  that  they  should 
be  driven  back.  I  then  said,  with  great  earnestness  : 
"  Mr.  A.  B.,  if  you  do  anything  or  say  anything  to  hurt 
the  feelings  of  that  worthy  family,  and  induce  them  to 
return  to  the  pew  which  you  know  is  not  large  enough 
for  them,  so  sure  as  your  name  is  A.  B.  and  my  name  is 
S.  J.  M.,  the  first  time  you  afterwards  appear  in  the  con- 


PREJUDICE  AGAINST   COLOR.  271 

gregation,  I  will  state  the  facts  of  the  case  exactly  as 
they  are,  and  administer  to  you  as  severe  a  reproof  as  I 
may  be  able  to  frame  in  words."  This  had  the  desired 
effect.  My  colored  friends  retained  their  new  seat. 

To  counteract  as  much  as  possible  the  effect  of  this 
cruel  prejudice,  of  which  1  have  given  a  few  specimens, 
we  Abolitionists  gathered  up  and  gave  to  the  public  the 
numerous  evidences  that  were  easily  obtained  of  the 
intellectual  and  moral  equality  of  the  colored  witli  the 
white  races  of  mankind.  Mrs.  Child,  in  her  admirable 
"Appeal,"  devoted  two  excellent  chapters  to  this  pur 
pose.  The  Hon.  Alexander  H.  Everett  also,  in  1835,  de 
livered  in  Boston  a  lecture  on  "  African  Mind,"  in  which 
he  showed,  on  the  authority  of  the  fathers  of  history,  that 
the  colored  races  of  men  were  the  leaders  in  civilization. 
He  said  :  "  While  Greece  and  Rome  were  yet  barbarous, 
we  find  the  '  light  of  learning  and  improvement  emanating 
from  them,'  the  inhabitants  of  the  degraded  and  accursed 
continent  of  Africa,  —  out  of  the  very  midst  of  this  woolly- 
haired,  flat-nosed,  thick-lipped,  coal-black  race  which  some 
persons  are  tempted  to  station  at  a  pretty  low  intermedi 
ate  point  between  men  and  monkeys."  Again  he  said  : 
"  The  high  estimation  in  which  the  Africans  were  held 
for  wisdom  and  virtue  is  strikingly  shown  by  the  mytho 
logical  fable,  current  among  the  ancient  Greeks,  and  re 
peatedly  alluded  to  by  Homer,  which  represented  the 
Gods  as  going  annually  in  a  body  to  make  a  long  visit  to 
the  Ethiopians."  Referring  my  readers  to  Mrs.  Child's 
chapters,  and  Mr.  Everett's  oration  on  this  subject,  I 
will  give  a  few  of  my  own  recollections  of  facts  going  to 
establish  the  natural  equality  of  our  colored  brethren. 

Since  the  admission  of  their  children  to  the  public 
schools,  a  fair  proportion  of  them  have  shown  themselves 
to  be  fully  equal  to  white  children  in  their  aptness  to 
learn.  And  surely  no  one  who  is  acquainted  with  them 


272  ANTISL  AVERT   CONFLICT. 

will  presume  to  speak  of  the  inferiority  of  such  men  as 
Frederick  Douglass,  Henry  H.  Garnett,  Samuel  R.  Ward, 
Charles  L.  Remond,  William  Wells  Brown,  J.  W.  Lo^uen, 
and  many  more  men  and  women  who  have  been  our  faith 
ful  and  able  fellow-laborers  in  the  antislavery  cause.* 

But  I  have,  recorded  in  my  memory,  many  touching 
evidences  of  the  moral  equality,  if  not  superiority,  of  the 
colored  race.  Let  me  premise  these  recollections  by 
stating  the  general  fact  that,  notwithstanding  the  serious 
disadvantages  to  which  our  prejudices  have  subjected 
them,  the  colored  population  of  our  country  have  no 
where  imposed  upon  the  public  their  proportion  of  pau 
pers  or  of  criminals.  In  this  respect  they  are  excelled 
only  by  the  Quakers  and  the  Jews. 

I  shall  always  remember  with  great  pleasure  once  meet 
ing  the  Rev.  Dr.  Tuckerman  in  Tremont  Street,  in  1835. 
He  hurried  towards  me,  his  countenance  beaming  with  a 
delight  which  only  such  a  benevolent  heart  as  his  could 
give  to  the  human  countenance,  saying:  "0  Brother  May, 
I  have  a  precious  fact  for  you  Abolitionists.  Never  in  all 
my  intercourse  with  the  poor,  or  indeed  with  any  class  of 
my  fellow-beings,  have  I  met  with  a  brighter  instance  of 
true,  self-sacrificing  Christian  benevolence  than  lately  in 
the  case  of  a  poor  colored  woman.  Two  colored  women, 
not  related,  have  been  living  for  several  years  on  the 
same  floor  in  a  tenement-house,  each  having  only  a  com 
mon  room  and  a  small  bedroom.  Each  of  them  was  get 
ting  a  living  for  herself  and  a  young  child  by  washing  and 
day-labor.  They  had  managed  to  subsist,  earning  about 
enough  to  meet  current  expenses.  Several  months  ago 
one  of  them  was  taken  very  sick  with  inflammatory  rheu 
matism.  All  was  done  for  her  relief  that  medical  skill 
could  do,  but  without  avail.  She  grew  worse  rather 
than  better,  until  she  became  utterly  helpless.  The 
*  See  Appendix. 


PREJUDICE   AGAINST   COLOR.  273 

overseers  of  the  poor  made  the  customary  provision  for 
her,  and  benevolent  individuals  helped  her  privately. 
But  it  came  to  be  a  case  for  an  infirmary.  The  over 
seers  and  others  thought  best  to  remove  her  to  the  alms- 
house.  When  this  decision  was  made  known  to  her  she 
became  much  distressed.  The  thought  of  going  to  the 
poorhouse  —  of  becoming  a  public  pauper  —  was  dread 
ful  to  her.  We  tried  to  reconcile  her  to  what  seemed  to 
us  the  best  provision  that  could  be  made  for  her,  not  only 
by  assuring  her  that  she  would  be  kindly  cared  for,  but 
by  reminding  her  that  she  had  been  brought  to  her  condi 
tion,  as  we  believed,  by  no  fault  of  her  own,  and  by  such 
considerations  as  our  blessed  religion  suggests.  But  she 
could  not  be  comforted.  We  left  her,  trusting  that  pri 
vate  reflection  would  in  a  few  days  bring  her  to  acquiesce 
in  what  seemed  to  be  inevitable.  In  due  time  I  called 
again  to  learn  if  she  was  prepared  for  her  removal  to 
the  almshouse.  I  found  her  not  in  her  own  but  in 
her  generous-hearted  neighbor's  room.  Thither  had  been 
removed  all  her  little  furniture.  So  deep  was  that  neigh 
bor's  sympathy  with  her  feeling  of  shame  and  humilia 
tion  at  becoming  a  public  pauper,  —  an  inmate  of  the 
almshouse,  —  that  she  had  determined  to  take  upon 
herself  the  care  and  support  of  this  sick,  infirm,  helpless 
woman,  and  had  subjected  herself  to  all  the  inconven 
ience  of  an  over-crowded  room,  as  well  as  the  great  ad 
ditional  labor  and  care  which  she  had  thus  assumed." 

Whatever  Dr.  Tuckerman  thought,  or  we  may  think, 
of  the  unreasonableness  of  the  poor  helpless  invalid's 
dread  of  the  almshouse,  or  of  the  imprudence  of  her 
poor  friend  in  undertaking  to  support  and  nurse  her,  we 
cannot  help  admiring,  as  he  did,  that  ardor  of  benevo 
lence  which  impelled  to  such  a  labor  of  loving-kindness, 
and  pronounce  it  a  very  rare  instance  of  self-sacrificing 
charity.  Let  it  redound  as  it  should  to  the  credit  of 
12*  R 


274  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

that  portion  of  the  human  race  which  our  nation  has  so 
wickedly  dared  to  despise  and  oppress. 

I  have  several  more  precious  recollections  of  elevated 
moral  sentiment  and  principle  evinced  by  black  men  and 
women  whom  I  have  known.  Two  of  these  I  will  give. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  see  much  of  Edward  S.  Abdy, 
Esq.,  of  England,  during  his  visit  to  our  country  in 
1833  and  1834.  The  first  time  I  met  him  was  at  the 
house  of  Mr.  James  Forten,  of  Philadelphia,  in  company 
with  two  other  English  gentlemen,  who  had  come  to  the 
United  States  commissioned  by  the  British  Parliament 
to  examine  our  systems  of  prison  and  penitentiary  disci 
pline.  Mr.  Abdy  was  interested  in  whatsoever  affected 
the  welfare  of  man,  but  he  was  more  particularly  de 
voted  to  the  investigation  of  slavery.  He  travelled  ex 
tensively  in  our  Southern  States  and  contemplated  with 
his  own  eyes  the  manifold  abominations  of  our  American 
despotism.  He  was  too  much  exasperated  by  our  tyr 
anny  to  be  enamored  of  our  democratic  institutions  ;  and 
on  his  return  to  England  he  published  two  very  sensible 
volumes,  that  were  so  little  complimentary  to  our  nation 
that  our  booksellers  thought  it  not  worth  their  while 
to  republish  them. 

This  warm-hearted  philanthropist  visited  me  several 
times  at  my  home  in  Connecticut.  The  last  afternoon  that 
he  was  there  we  were  sitting  together  at  my  study  win 
dow,  when  our  attention  was  arrested  by  a  very  handsome 
carriage  driving  up  to  the  hotel  opposite  my  house.  A 
gentleman  and  lady  occupied  the  back  seat,  and  on  the 
front  were  two  children  tended  by  a  black  woman,  who 
wore  the  turban  that  was  then  usually  worn  by  slave- 
women.  We  hastened  over  to  the  hotel,  and  soon  en 
tered  into  conversation  with  the  slaveholder.  He  was 
polite,  but  somewhat  nonchalant  and  defiant  of  our  sym 
pathy  with  his  victim.  He  readily  acknowledged,  as 


PREJUDICE   AGAINST   COLOR.  275 

slaveholders  of  that  day  generally  did,  that,  abstractly 
considered,  the  enslavement  of  fellow-men  was  a  great 
wrong.  But  then  he  contended  that  it  had  become  a 
necessary  evil,  —  necessary  to  the  enslaved  no  less  than 
to  the  enslavers,  the  former  being  unable  to  do  without 
masters  as  much  as  the  latter  were  unable  to  do  without 
servants,  and  he  added,  in  a  very  confident  tone,  "  You 
are  at  liberty  to  persuade  our  servant-woman  to  remain 
here  if  you  can." 

Thus  challenged,  we  of  course  sought  an  interview  with 
the  slave,  and  informed  her  that,  having  been  brought 
by  her  master  into  the  free  States,  she  was,  by  the  laws 
of  the  land,  set  at  liberty.  "  No,  I  am  not,  gentlemen," 
was  her  prompt  reply.  We  adduced  cases  and  quoted 
authorities  to  establish  our  assertion  that  she  was  free. 
But  she  significantly  shook  her  head,  and  still  insisted 
that  the  examples  and  the  legal  decisions  did  not  reach 
her  case.  "  For,"  said  she,  "  I  promised  mistress  that  I 
would  go  back  with  her  and  the  children."  Mr.  Abdy 
undertook  to  argue  with  her  that  such  a  promise  was 
not  binding.  He  had  been  drilled  in  the  moral  philoso 
phy  of  Dr.  Paley,  and  in  that  debate  seemed  to  be  pos 
sessed  of  its  spirit.  But  he  failed  to  make  any  visible 
impression  upon  the  woman.  She  had  bound  herself  by 
a  promise  to  her  mistress  that  she  would  not  leave  her, 
and  that  promise  had  fastened  upon  her  conscience  an 
obligation  from  which  she  could  not  be  persuaded  that 
even  her  natural  right  to  liberty  could  exonerate  her. 
Mr.  Abdy  at  last  was  impatient  with  her,  and  said  in  his 
haste  :  "  Is  it  possible  that  you  do  not  wish  to  be  free  1 " 
She  replied  with  solemn  earnestness  :  "  Was  there  ever 
a  slave  that  did  not  wish  to  be  free  ?  I  long  for  liberty. 
I  will  get  out  of  slavery  if  I  can  the  day  after  I  have 
returned,  but  go  back  I  must  because  I  promised  that  I 
would."  At  this  we  desisted  from  our  endeavor  to  in- 


276  ANTISL AVERT   CONFLICT. 

duce  her  to  take  the  boon  that  was  apparently  within 
her  reach.  We  could  not  but  feel  a  profound  respect 
for  that  moral  sensibility,  which  would  not  allow  her  to 
embrace  even  her  freedom  at  the  expense  of  violating  a 
promise. 

The  next  morning  at  an  early  hour  the  slaveholder, 
with  his  wife  and  children,  drove  off,  leaving  the  slave- 
woman  and  their  heaviest  trunk  to  be  brought  on  after 
them  in  the  stage-coach.  We  could  not  refrain  from 
again  trying  to  persuade  her  to  remain  and  be  free.  We 
told  her  that  her  master  had  given  us  leave  to  persuade 
her,  if  we  could.  She  pointed  to  the  trunk  and  to  a 
very  valuable  gold  watch  and  chain,  which  her  mistress 
had  committed  to  her  care,  and  insisted  that  fidelity  to 
a  trust  was  of  more  consequence  to  her  soul  even  than 
the  attainment  of  liberty.  Mr.  Abdy  offered  to  take  the 
trunk  and  watch  into  his  charge,  follow  her  master,  and 
deliver  them  into  his  hands.  But  she  could  not  be  made 
to  see  that  in  this  there  would  be  no  violation  of  her 
duty  ;  and  then  her  own  person,  that  too  she  had  prom 
ised  should  be  returned  to  the  home  of  her  master. 
And  much  as  she  longed  for  liberty,  she  longed  for  a 
clear  conscience  more. 

Mr.  Abdy  was  astonished,  delighted,  at  this  instance 
of  heroic  virtue  in  a  poor,  ignorant  slave.  He  packed 
his  trunk,  gave  me  a  hearty  adieu,  and  when  the  coach 
drove  up  he  took  his  seat  on  the  outside  with  the  trunk 
and  the  slave-chattel  of  a  Mississippi  slaveholder,  that 
he  might  study  for  a  few  hours  more  the  morality  of 
that  strong-hearted  woman  who  could  not  be  bribed  to 
violate  her  promise,  even  by  the  gift  of  liberty.  It  was 
the  last  ti.me  I  saw  Mr.  Abdy,  and  it  was  a  sight  to  be 
remembered,  —  he,  an  accomplished  English  gentleman, 
a  Fellow  of  Oxford  or  Cambridge  University,  riding  on 
the  driver's  box  of  a  stage-coach  side  by  side  with  an 


PREJUDICE  AGAINST  COLOR.  277 

American  slave-woman,  that  he  might  learn  more  of  her 
history  and  character. 

"  Full  many  a  gem,  of  purest  ray  serene, 

The  dark,  unfuthomed  caves  of  ocean  bear; 
Full  many  a  flower  is  born  to  blush  unseen, 
And  waste  its  sweetness  on  the  desert  air." 

Ill  this  connection  I  must  be  allowed  to  narrate  an  inci 
dent  (though  not  an  antislaveryone),  because  it  may  inter 
est  my  readers  generally,  and,  should  it  come  to  the  notice 
of  any  of  my  English  friends,  may  lead  to  the  return  of  a 
valuable  manuscript  which  I  wish  very  much  to  recover. 

I  had  been  for  several  years  in  possession  of  a  letter 
of  seven  pages  in  the  handwriting  of  General  Washing 
ton,  given  me  by  a  lady  who  obtained  it  in  Richmond, 
Va.  It  was  a  letter  addressed  to  Mr.  Custis  in  171)4, 
while  Washington  was  detained  in  Philadelphia  in  at 
tendance  upon  his  duties  as  President.  He  had  left  Mr. 
Custis  in  charge  of  his  estates  at  Mount  Vernon.  The 
letter  was  one  of  particular  instructions  as  to  the  man 
agement  of  "  the  people  "  and  the  disposition  of  the 
crops.  It  showed  how  exact  were  the  business  habits  of 
that  great  man,  and  his  anxiety  that  his  slaves  should 
be  properly  cared  for. 

Mr.  Abdy  read  it  and  reread  it  with  the  deepest  in 
terest,  and  seemed  to  me  to  covet  the  possession  of  it. 
Just  as  he  was  about  to  take  his  departure  I  longed  to 
give  him  something  that  he  would  value  as  a  memento 
of  his  visit  to  me.  There  was  nothing  I  could  think  of 
at  the  moment  but  the  letter,  so  I  put  it  into  his  hand, 
saying,  "  Keep  it  as  my  parting  token  of  regard  for 
you."  "  What  !  "  said  he,  seizing  it  with  surprise  as  well 
as  delight,  "  will  you  give  me  this  invaluable  relic  1 " 
"  Yes,"  I  replied  ;  "  there  are  a  great  many  of  General 
Washington's  letters  in  our  country,  but  not  many  in 
England.  Take  it,  and  show  your  countrymen  that  he 
was  a  man  of  method  as  well  as  of  might." 


278  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

Some  time  after  he  had  gone,  and  the  fervor  of  feeling 
which  impelled  me  to  the  gift  had  subsided,  I  began  to 
regret  that  I  had  parted  with  the  letter.  There  were  in 
it,  incidentally  given,  some  traits  of  the  character  of 
Washington  that  might  not  be  found  elsewhere.  It 
came  to  me  that  such  a  letter  should  not  have  been  held 
or  disposed  of  as  my  private  property.  It  belonged 
rather  to  the  nation. 

A  few  years  afterwards  Mr.  Abdy  died.  I  learned 
from  an  English  paper  the  fact  of  his  demise  and  the 
name  of  the  executor  of  his  estate.  To  that  gentleman 
I  wrote,  described  the  letter  of  Washington,  the  circum 
stances  under  which  I  had  given  it  to  Mr.  Abdy,  and 
requested  that,  as  he  had  departed  this  life,  the  letter 
might  be  returned  to  me,  with  my  reasons  for  wishing  to 
possess  it  again.  In  due  time  I  received  a  very  cour 
teous  reply  from  that  gentleman,  assuring  me  that  he 
sympathized  with  my  feelings,  and  appreciated  the  pro 
priety  of  my  reclaiming  the  letter.  But  he  added  that 
he  had  searched  for  it  in  vain  among  Mr.  Abdy's  papers, 
and  presumed  he  had  deposited  it  in  the. library  of  some 
literary  or  historical  institution,  but  had  left  no  intima 
tion  as  to  the  disposal  of  it. 

When  in  England,  in  1859,  I  inquired  for  it  of  the 
librarian  of  the  British  Museum,  and  of  Dr.  William's 
Library  in  Ked-cross  Street,  but  without  success.  If 
these  lines  should  meet  the  eye  of  any  friend  in  England 
who  may  know,  or  be  able  to  find,  where  the  valuable 
autograph  is,  I  shall  be  very  grateful  for  the  informa 
tion.* 

A  NEGRO'S  LOVE   OF  LIBERTY. 

A  year  or  two  after  my  removal  to  Syracuse  a  colored 
man  accosted  me  in  the  street,  and  asked  for  a  private 

*  I  advertised  my  request  in  "  Notes  and  Queries  "  for  August,  1859. 


A  NEGRO'S  LOVE  OF  LIBERTY.  279 

interview  with  me  on  a  matter  of  great  importance.  I 
had  repeatedly  met  him  about  the  city,  and  supposed 
from  his  appearance  that  he  was  a  smart,  enterprising, 
free  negro. 

At  the  time  appointed  he  came  to  my  house,  and  after 
looking  carefully  about  to  be  sure  we  were  alone,  he  in 
formed  me  that  he  was  a  fugitive  from  slavery  ;  that  he 
had  resided  in  our  city  several  years,  but  nobody  here 
except  his  wife  knew  whence  he  came,  and  he  was  very 
desirous  that  his  secret  should  be  kept. 

"  I  have  come,"  he  continued,  "to  ask  your  assistance  to 
enable  me  to  get  my  mother  out  of  slavery.  I  have  been 
industrious,  have  lived  economically,  and  have  saved  three 
hundred  dollars.  With  this  I  hope  to  purchase  my  moth 
er,  and  bring  her  here  to  finish  her  days  with  me."  "  You 
say,"  I  replied,  "  that  you  are  a  fugitive  slave  ;  from 
what  place  in  the  South  did  you  escape  1 "  "  From 

W ,  in  Virginia,"  he  answered.  I  opened  my  atlas, 

and  found  a  town  so  named  in  that  State.  "  What 

towns  are  there  adjoining  or  near  W ] "  I  asked. 

He  named  several,  enough  to  satisfy  me  that  he  was 
acquainted  with  that  part  of  Virginia.  "  Well,"  said  I, 
"  how  did  you  get  here  1 "  "  By  the  light  of  the  north- 
star,"  was  his  prompt  reply.  "  How  did  you  know  any 
thing  about  the  north-star,  and  that  it  would  guide  you 
to  freedom  ? "  I  doubt ingly  inquired.  "  I  have  heard  of 
a  great  many  Southern  slaves  who  have  made  their  way 
into  the  free  States  and  to  Canada  by  the  light  of  that 
star,  but  I  have  never  before  seen  one  who  had  done  so. 
I  am  very  desirous  to  hear  particularly  about  your  es 
cape."  "  Well,  sir,"  said  he,  "  a  good  man  in  W ,  a 

member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  knowing  how  much  I 
longed  to  be  free,  pointed  out  to  me  the  north-star,  and 
showed  me  how  t  might  always  find  it.  And  he  assured 
me,  if  I  would  travel  towards  it,  that  I  should  at  length 


280  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

reach  a  part  of  the  country  where  slavery  was  not  al 
lowed.  I  need  not  tell  you,  sir,  how  impatient  I  became 
to  set  off.  After  a  while  my  master  left  home  to  be  ab 
sent  several  days,  and  the  next  Saturday  night  I  started 
with  a  bundle  on  my  back,  containing  a  part  of  the  very 
few  clothes  I  had,  and  all  the  food  I  could  get  with  my 
mother's  help,  and  a  little  money  in  my  pocket  —  not 
three  dollars  —  that  I  had  been  gathering  for  a  long 
time.  The  first  and  the  second  nights  were  pleasant, 
the  stars  shone  bright,  and  there  was  no  moon,  so  I 
travelled  from  the  moment  it  was  dark  enough  to  venture 
out  until  the  light  of  day  began  to  appear.  Then  I 
found  some  place  to  hide,  and  there  I  lay  all  day  until 
darkness  came  again.  Thus  I  travelled  night  after  night, 
always  looking  towards  the  north-star.  Sometimes  I 
lost  sight  of  it  in  the  woods  through  which  I  was  obliged 
to  pass,  and  oh  !  how  glad  I  was  to  see  it  again.  Some 
times  I  had  to  go  a  great  ways  round  to  avoid  houses 
and  grounds  that  were  guarded  by  dogs,  or  that  I  feared 
it  would  not  be  safe  for  me  to  cross,  but  still  I  kept  look 
ing  for  the  star,  and  turned  and  travelled  towards  it 
when  I  could.  At  other  times  (thank  God,  not  often) 
the  nights  were  so  cloudy  I  could  not  see,  and  so  was 
obliged  to  stay  where  I  had  been  through  the  previous 
days.  0  sir,  how  long  those  nights  did  seem  ! 

"  When  the  food  I  had  brought  away  in  my  bundle 
was  all  eaten  up,  I  was  forced  to  call  at  some  houses  and 
beg  for  something  to  relieve  my  hunger.  I  was  gener 
ally  treated  kindly,  for,  as  I  learnt,  I  had  gotten  out  of 
Virginia  and  Maryland.  Still,  I  did  not  dare  to  stop  so 
soon,  but  kept  on  until  I  reached  this  place,  where  I 
saw  many  colored  people,  evidently  as  free  as  the  white 
folks.  So  I  thought  it  would  be  safe  to  look  about  for 
employment  here  and  a  home.  Here  I  have  been  living 
seven  or  eight  years ;  have  married  a  wife,  and  we  have 


A  NEGRO'S  LOVE  OF  LIBERTY.  281 

two  children.  As  I  told  you  at  first,  I  have  saved  money 
enough,  I  believe,  to  buy  my  mother,  and  I  want  you, 
sir,  to  help  me  get  her  here." 

It  cannot  be  necessary  for  me  to  assure  my  readers 
that  I  was  deeply  interested  in  this  narrative,  which  I 
have  repeated  so  often  that  I  have  kept  its  essential 
parts  fresh  in  my  memory.  But,  wishing  to  test  its 
truth  still  further,  I  asked  him  what  towns  he  had 

passed  through  in  coming  from  W to  Syracuse. 

"  0,"  said  he,  "  as  I  travelled  at  night  and  avoided  peo 
ple  all  I  could,  and  asked  few  questions  of  those  I  did 
meet,  I  learned  the  names  of  only  a  few  places  through 

which  I  came.  I  remember  M and  D and 

B ,"  and  so  on,  giving  the  names  of  six  or  eight 

towns  in  all.  "  Ah,"  said  I,  "  how  did  you  get  to  B , 

if  you  travelled  only  towards  the  north-star  1 " 

"  0,"  he  replied,  "  I  got  scared  there.  I  thought  the 
slave-catchers  were  after  me.  I  ran  for  luck.  I  trav 
elled  two  nights  in  the  road  that  was  easiest  for  me, 
without  caring  for  anything  but  to  escape.  Then,  sup 
posing  I  had  got  away  from  those  who  were  after  me,  I 
took  to  the  north-star  again,  and  that  brought  me  here." 

The  few  towns  which  he  named  as  having  passed 
through  after  his  last  starting-point,  I  found  on  the  map 
lying  almost  directly  in  the  line  running  thence  due 
north  to  this  city. 

Being  thus  assured  of  the  correctness  of  his  story,  I 
began  to  question  the  expediency  of  his  attempting  to 
bring  his  mother  away  from  her  old  home,  even  if  I 
should  be  able  to  get  possession  of  her  for  him.  "She 
must  be  an  aged  woman  by  this  time,"  said  I.  "  You 
look  as  if  you  were  forty  years  old  ;  she  probably  is 
sixty,  perhaps  nearly  or  quite  seventy." 

"  It  may  be  so,"  he  replied ;  "  but  she  used  to  be 
mighty  smart  and  healthy,  and  may  live  a  good  many 


282  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

years  yet,  and  I  want  to  do  what  I  can  for  my  mother. 
I  am  her  only  child  I  believe,  and  I  know  she  would  bo 
mighty  glud  to  see  me  again  before  she  dies." 

".Very  true,"  I  rejoined  ;  "  but  you  have  been  so  long 
separated  she  must  have  got  used  to  living  without  you. 
Like  other  old  slave-women  in  our  Southern  States 
(mammies  or  aunties,  as  they  are  called),  I  presume  she 
is  pretty  kindly  treated,  and  such  a  change  as  you  pro 
pose  at  her  time  of  life  might  make  her  much  less  com 
fortable  than  she  would  be  to  continue  to  the  last  in  her 
accustomed  place  and  condition." 

"  0  sir  !  "  he  said,  with  great  earnestness,  "  she  is  a 
slave.  Every  one  in  slavery  longs  to  be  free.  I  am 
sure  she  would  rather  suffer  a  great  deal  as  a  free  woman 
than  to  live  any  longer,  however  comfortably,  as  a 
slave." 

"  Yes,"  I  replied,  with  all  apparent  want  of  sympathy, 
"  but  it  will  cost  you  all  the  money  you  have  saved,  and 
I  fear  much  more,  to  buy  her  and  get  her  brought  on  to 
you  here,  so  that  you  may  then  be  too  poor  to  make  her 
comfortable.  But  your  three  hundred  dollars  will  enable 
you  to  increase  in  many  ways  the  comfort  of  your  wife 
and  children.  That  sum  will  go  far  towards  the  purchase 
of  a  nice  little  home  for  them.  Now,  do  you  not  owe 
them  quite  as  much  as  you  do  your  mother  1 "  "  My 
wife,"  he  exclaimed,  "  is  just  as  anxious  as  I  am  to  get 
mother  out  of  slavery.  She  is  willing  to  work  as  hard 
as  I  will  to  make  mother  comfortable  after  we  get  her 
here.  I  am  sure  we  shall  not  let  mother  suffer  for  anything 
she  may  need  in  her  old  age.  Do,  sir,  help  us  get  her 
here,  and  you  shall  see  what  we  will  do  for  her."  Re 
pressing  my  feelings  as  much  as  possible,  I  said  once 
more :  "  But,  my  good  fellow,  your  mother  is  so  old  she  can 
live  but  a  little  while  after  you  have  spent  your  all  and 
more  to  get  her  here.  Very  likely  the  excitement  and 


A  NEGRO'S  LOVE   OF  LIBERTY.  283 

the  fatigue  of  the  journey  and  the  change  of  the  climate 
will  kill  .her  very  soon."  With  the  deepest  emotion  and 
in  a  most  subdued  manner,  he  replied,  "  No  matter  if  it 
does,  —  buy  her,  bring  her  here,  and  let  her  die  free." 
This  was  irresistible.  I  seized  his  hand.  "  Sanford,  you 
must  not  think  me  as  unsympathizing  and  cold  as  I 
have  appeared.  I  have  been  trying  you,  proving  you. 
I  am  satisfied  that  you  know  the  value  of  liberty, 
that  you  hold  it  above  all  price.  Be  assured  I  will  do 
all  in  my  power  to  help  you  to  accomplish  your  gener 
ous,  your  pious  purpose.  Nothing  will  give  me  more 
heartfelt  satisfaction  than  to  be  instrumental  in  procur 
ing  the  release  of  your  mother  and  presenting  her  to 
you  a  free  woman." 

The  sequel  to  my  story  is  sad,  but  most  instructive. 
It  will  show  how  demoralizing,  dehumanizing  it  has  been 
and  must  be  to  hold  human  beings,  fellow-men,  as  prop 
erty,  chattels  ;  that,  as  Cowper  wrote  long  ago,  "  it  were 
better  to  be  a  slave  and  wear  the  chains,  than  to  fasten 
them  on  another." 

How  to  compass  the  purpose  which  had  thus  been  so 
forcibly  fixed  in  my  heart  required  some  device.  It 
would  not  have  done  for  Sanford  himself  to  have  gone 
for  his  mother.  That  would  have  been  like  going  into 
the  den  of  an  angry  tiger.  No  sin  that  a  slave  could 
commit  was  so  unpardonable  then,  in  the  estimation  of 
a  slaveholder,  as  running  away. 

I  did  not,  until  five  years  afterwards,  become  acquainted 
with  that  remarkable  woman, Harriet  Tubman,or  I  might 
have  engaged  her  services  in  the  assurance  that  she  would 
have  brought  off  the  old  woman  without  paying  for  what 
belonged  to  her  by  an  inalienable  right,  —  her  liberty. 

I  therefore  soon  determined  to  intrust  the  undertak 
ing  to  John  Needles,  of  Baltimore,  a  most  excellent  man 
and  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends.  Accordingly. 


284  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

I  wrote  to  him,  giving  all  the  particulars  of  the  case,  — 
the  name  of  the  town  in  Virginia  where  the  slave-woman 
was  supposed  to  be  still  living,  usually  called  Aunt  Bess 
or  Old  Bess,  and  the  name  of  the  planter  who  held  her 
as  his  chattel.  I  promised  to  send  him  the  three  hun 
dred  dollars  which  Sanford  had  put  at  my  disposal,  and 
more,  if  more  would  be  needed,  so  soon  as  he  should  in 
form  me  that  he  had  gotten  or  could  get  possession  of 
the  woman. 

After  six  or  eight  weeks  I  received  a  letter,  informing 
me  that  he  had  secured  the  ready  assistance  of  a  very 

suitable  man, — -a  Quaker, residing  in  the  town  of  W , 

not  far  from  the  plantation  on  which  was  still  living  the 
mother  of  Sanford,  an  old  woman  in  pretty  good  health. 
But  alas  !  his  endeavor  to  purchase  her  had  been  utter 
ly  unavailing.  He  had  approached  the  business  as  warily 
as  he  knew  how  to.  Yet  almost  instantly  the  truth  had 
been  seen  by  the  jealous  eyes  of  the  planter,  through  the 
disguise  the  Quaker  had  attempted  to  throw  around  it. 
"  You  don't  want  that  old  black  wench  for  yourself,"  said 
the  master.  "  She  would  be  of  no  use  to  you.  You 
want  to  get  her  for  Sanford.  And,  damn  him,  he  can't 
have  her,  unless  he  comes  for  her  himself.  And  then,  I 
reckon,  I  shall  let  Old  Bess  have  him,  and  not  let  him 
have  her.  He  may  stay  here  where  he  belongs,  the 
damned  runaway!  "  No  entreaty  or  argument  the  Qua 
ker  used  seemed  to  move  the  master.  Even  the  offer  of 
two  hundred  dollars  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  — 
much  more  than  the  market  value  of  the  old  woman  — 
was  spurned.  It  was  better  to  him  than  money  to  pun 
ish  the  runaway  slave  through  his  disappointed  affections, 
now  that  he  could  not  do  it  by  lacerating  his  back  or 
putting  him  in  irons. 

I  need  not  attempt  to  describe  the  sorrow  and  vexa 
tion  of  the  son  thus  wantonly  denied  the  satisfaction  of 


DISTINGUISHED   COLORED  MEN.  285 

contributing  to  the  comfort  of  his  mother  through  the 
few  last  days  of  her  life,  in  which  her  services  could  have 
been  of  little  or  no  worth  to  the  tyrant.  Nor  need  I 
measure  for  my  readers  the  vast  moral  superiority  of  the 
poor  black  man,  who  had  been  the  slave,  to  the  rich  white 
man,  who  had  been  the  master. 

DISTINGUISHED   COLORED  MEN. 

I  have  given  above  some  instances  of  exalted  moral 
excellence  which  greatly  increased  my  regard  for  colored 
men,  —  instances  of  self-sacrificing  benevolence,  of  rigid 
adherence  to  a  promise  under  the  strongest  temptation 
to  break  it,  and  of  their  inestimable  value  of  liberty.  I 
wish  now  to  tell  of  several  colored  men  who  have  given 
us  abundant  evidences  of  their  mental  power  and  execu 
tive  ability. 

DAVID   RUGGLES,  LEWIS    HAYDEN,  AND   WILLIAM   C.    NELL. 

David  Ruggles  first  became  known  to  me  as  a  most 
active,  adventurous,  and  daring  conductor  on  the  under 
ground  railroad.  He  helped  six  hundred  slaves  to  escape 
from  one  and  another  of  the  Southern  States  into  Canada, 
or  to  places  of  security  this  side  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 
So  great  wrere  the  dangers  to  which  he  was  often  exposed, 
so  severe  the  labors  and  hardships  he  often  incurred,  and 
so  intense  the  excitement  into  which  he  was  sometimes 
thrown,  that  his  eyes  became  seriously  diseased,  and  he 
lost  entirely  the  sight  of  them.  For  a  while  he  was 
obliged  to  depend  for  his  livelihood  upon  the  contribu 
tions  of  his  antislavery  friends,  which  they  gave  much 
more  cheerfully  than  he  received  them.  Dependence 
was  irksome  to  his  enterprising  spirit.  So  soon,  therefore, 
as  his  health,  in  other  respects,  was  sufficiently  restored, 
he  eagerly  inquired  for  some  employment  by  which,  not- 


286  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT.      . 

withstanding  his  blindness,  he  could  be  useful  to  others 
and  gain  a  support  for  himself  and  family.  Having  a 
strong  inclination  to,  and  not  a  little  tact  and  experience 
in  the  curative  art,  he  determined  to  attempt  the  man 
agement  of  a  Water-cure  Hospital.  He  was  assisted  to 
obtain  the  lease  of  suitable  accommodations  in  or  near 
Northampton,  and  conducted  his  establishment  with 
great  skill  and  good  success,  I  believe,  until  his  death. 

Lewis  Hayden  and  William  C.  Nell  were  active,  de 
voted  young  colored  men,  who,  in  the  early  days  of  our 
antislavery  enterprise,  rendered  us  valuable  services  in 
various  ways.  The  latter  —  Mr.  Nell  —  especially  as 
sisted  in  making  arrangements  for  our  meetings,  gather 
ing  important  and  pertinent  information,  and  sometimes 
addressing  our  meetings  very  acceptably.  He  was  always 
careful  in  preserving  valuable  facts  and  documents,  and 
grew  to  be  esteemed  so  highly  for  his  fidelity  and  care 
fulness,  that,  when  the  Hon.  J.  G.  Palfrey  came  to  be  the 
Postmaster  of  Boston,  he  appointed  W.  C.  Nell  one  of 
his  clerks  ;  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  he  retains  that  situ 
ation  to  this  day. 

JAMES   FORTEN". 

While  at  the  Convention  in  Philadelphia,  in  1833,  I 
became  acquainted  with  two  colored  gentlemen  who  in 
terested  me  deeply,  —  Mr.  James  Forten  and  Mr.  Robert 
Purvis.  The  former,  then  nearly  sixty  years  of  age,  was 
evidently  a  man  of  commanding  mind,  and  well  informed. 
He  had  for  many  years  carried  on  the  largest  private 
sail-making  establishment  in  that  city,  having  at  times 
forty  men  in  his  employ,  most,  if  not  all  of  them,  white 
men.  He  was  much  respected  by  them,  and  by  all  with 
whom  he  had  any  business  transactions,  among  whom 
were  many  of  the  prominent  merchants  of  Philadelphia. 
He  had  acquired  wealth,  and  he  lived  in  as  handsome  a 


DISTINGUISHED   COLORED  MEN.  287 

style  as  any  one  should  wish  to  live.  I  dined  at  his 
table  with  several  members  of  the  Convention,  and  two 
English  gentlemen  who  had  recently  come  to  our  country 
on  some  philanthropic  mission.  We  were  entertained  with 
as  much  ease  and  elegance  as  I  could  desire  to  see.  Of 
course,  the  conversation  was,  for  the  most  part,  on  topics 
relating  to  our  antislavery  conflict.  The  Colonization 
scheme  came  up  for  consideration,  and  I  shall  never 
forget  Mr.  Forten's  scathing  satire.  Among  other  things 
he  said  :  "  My  great-grandfather  was  brought  to  this 
country  a  slave  from  Africa.  My  grandfather  obtained 
his  own  freedom.  My  father  never  wore  the  yoke.  He 
rendered  valuable  services  to  his  country  in  the  war  of 
our  Revolution  ;  and  I,  though  then  a  boy,  was  a  drum 
mer  in  that  war.  I  was  taken  prisoner,  and  was  made  to 
suffer  not  a  little  on  board  the  Jersey  prison-ship.  I 
have  since  lived  and  labored  in  a  useful  employment, 
have  acquired  property,  and  have  paid  taxes  in  this  city. 
Here  I  have  dwelt  until  I  am.  nearly  sixty  years  of  age, 
and  have  brought  up  and  educated  a  family,  as  you  see, 
thus  far.  Yet  some  ingenious  gentlemen  have  recently 
discovered  that  I  am  still  an  African  ;  that  a  continent, 
three  thousand  miles,  and  more,  from  the  place  where  I 
was  born,  is  my  native  country.  And  I  am  advised  to  go 
home.  Well,  it  may  be  so.  Perhaps,  if  I  should  only 
be  set  on  the  shore  of  that  distant  land,  I  should  recog 
nize  all  I  might  see  there,  and  run  at  once  to  the  old 
hut  where  my  forefathers  lived  a  hundred  years  ago." 
His  tone  of  voice,  his  whole  manner,  sharpened  the  edge 
of  his  sarcasm.  It  was  irresistible.  And  the  laugh 
which  it  at  first  awakened  soon  gave  way  to  an  expres 
sion,  on  every  countenance,  of  that  ineffable  contempt 
which  he  evidently  felt  for  the  pretence  of  the  Coloniza 
tion  Society.  At  the  table  sat  his  excellent,  motherly 
wife,  and  his  lovely,  accomplished  daughters,  —  all  with 


288  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

himself  somewhat  under  the  ban  of  that  accursed  Amer 
ican  prejudice,  which  is  the  offspring  of  slavery.  I 
learnt  from  him  that  their  education,  evidently  of  a 
superior  kind,  had  cost  him  very  much  more  than  it 
would  have  done,  if  they  had  not  been  denied  admission 
into  the  best  schools  of  the  city. 

Soon  after  dinner  we  all  left  the  house  to  attend  a  meet 
ing  of  the  Philadelphia  Female  Antislavery  Society.  It 
was  my  privilege  to  escort  one  of  the  Misses  Forten  to 
the  place  of  meeting.  What  was  my  surprise,  when,  on 
my  return  to  Boston,  I  learnt  that  this  action  of  mine 
had  been  noticed  and  reported  at  home.  "Is  it  true, 
Mr.  May,"  said  a  lady  to  me,  "that  you  walked  in  the 
streets  of  Philadelphia  with  a  colored  girl  ? "  "I  did," 
was  my  reply,  "  and  should  be  happy  to  do  it  again. 
And  I  wish  that  all  the  white  young  ladies  of  my  ac 
quaintance  were  as  sensible,  well  educated,  refined,  and 
handsome  withal  as  Miss  Forten."  This  was  too  bad, 
and  I  was  set  down  as  one  of  the  incorrigibles. 

MR.    ROBERT    PURVIS 

was  then  an  elegant,  a  brilliant  young  gentleman,  well 
educated  and  wealthy.  He  was  so  nearly  white  that  he 
was  generally  taken  to  be  so.  I  first  saw  and  heard  him 
in  our  Antislavery  Convention  in  Philadelphia.  I  was 
attracted  to  him  by  his  fervid  eloquence,  and  was  sur 
prised  at  the  intimation,  which  fell  from  his  lips,  that  he 
belonged  to  the  proscribed,  disfranchised  class.  Away 
from  the  neighborhood  of  his  birth  he  might  easily  have 
passed  as  a  white  man.  Indeed,  I  was  told  he  had 
travelled  much  in  stage-coaches,  and  stopped  days  and 
weeks  at  Saratoga  and  other  fashionable  summer  resorts, 
and  mingled,  without  question,  among  the  beaux  and 
belles,  regarded  by  the  latter  as  one  of  the  most  attrac 
tive  of  his  sex.  Robert  Purvis,  therefore,  might  have 


DISTINGUISHED   COLORED  MEN.  289 

removed  to  any  part  of  our  country,  far  distant  from 
Philadelphia,  and  have  lived  as  one  of  the  self-styled 
superior  race.  But,  rather  than  forsake  his  kindred, 
or  try  to  conceal  the  secret  of  his  birth,  he  magnanimous 
ly  chose  to  bear  the  unjust  reproach,  the  cruel  wrongs  of 
the  colored  people,  although  he  has  been  more  annoyed, 
chafed,  exasperated  by  them  than  any  other  one  I  have 
ever  met  with.  Indeed,  he  seems  to  have  grown  more 
impatient  and  irascible  as  the  heavy  burden  of  his  peo 
ple  has  been  lightened.  Because  all  their  rights  have 
not  been  accorded  to  them,  he  sometimes  seems  to  deny 
that  any  of  their  rights  have  been  recognized.  Because 
the  elective  franchise  is  still  meanly  withheld  from  them 
in  some  of  the  States,  he  will  hardly  acknowledge  that 
slavery  has  been  abolished  throughout  the  land,  —  a 
glorious  triumph  in  the  cause  of  humanity,  which  his 
own  eloquence  and  pecuniary  contributions  have  helped 
to  achieve.  But  we  must  make  the  largest  allowance  for 
Mr.  Purvis.  No  man  of  conscious  power  and  high  spirit, 
who  has  not  felt  the  gnawing,  rasping,  burning  of  a  cruel 
stigma,  can  conceive  how  hard  it  is  to  bear. 

WILLIAM   WELLS   BROWN 

has  distinguished  himself  as  a  diligent  agent  and  able 
antislavery  lecturer  in  this  country  and  throughout 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  He  has  also  published  books 
that  have  been  highly  creditable  to  him  as  an  author. 

CHARLES  LENOX  REMOND, 

when  quite  a  young  man,  became  a  frequent  and  effective 
speaker  in  our  meetings.  In  1838  or  1839  he  was  ap 
pointed  an  agent  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Soci 
ety,  in  which  capacity  he  rendered  abundant  and  very 
valuable  services.  He  spent  the  greater  part  of  the  year 
1841  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  He  lectured  in 
is  9 


290  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

many  of  the  most  important  places  throughout  the 
United  Kingdom.  Everywhere  he  drew  large  audiences, 
and  was  much  commended  and  admired  for  the  per 
tinence  of  his  facts,  the  cogency  of  his  arguments,  and 
the  fire  of  his  eloquence.  In  The  Liberator  for  Novem 
ber  19,  1841,  there  was  copied  from  a  Dublin  paper  a 
speech  which  Mr.  Remond  had  then  recently  made  to  a 
large  and  most  respectable  audience  in  that  city.  Mr. 
Garrison  commended  it  to  his  readers  as  "  a  very  elo 
quent  production,  worthy  of  careful  perusal  and  high 
commendation.  Let  those,"  he  added,  "who  are  ever 
disposed  to  deny  the  possession  of  genius,  talent,  and 
eloquence  by  the  colored  man  read  that  speech,  and 
acknowledge  their  meanness  and  injustice." 

REV.    J.    W.    LOGUEN. 

Soon  after  I  removed  to  Syracuse,  in  1845,  I  became 
acquainted  with  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Loguen,  then  a  school 
teacher,  and  for  several  years  since  minister  of  the  Afri 
can  Methodist  Church  here.  His  personal  history  is  a 
remarkable  one,  revealing  at  times  no  little  force  of 
character.  He  was  born  in  Tennessee,  the  slave  of  an 
ignorant,  intemperate,  and  brutal  slaveholder.  He  wit 
nessed  the  sale  of  several  of  his  mother's  children,  her 
frantic  but  unavailing  resistance,  the  horrible  scourging 
she  endured  without  releasing  them  from  her  embrace, 
and  her  agonizing  grief  when  they  were  at  last  violently 
torn  from  her.  Twice  he  was  himself  beaten  nearly  to 
death,  —  left  bleeding  and  senseless,  to  be  comforted  and 
brought  back  to  life  by  the  care  of  his  fond  mother.  At 
last  he  saw  his  sister  (after  a  terrible  fight  with  the  ruf 
fian  slave-traders  to  whom  she  had  been  sold)  subdued, 
manacled,  and  forced  away,  screaming  for  her  children, 
imploring  at  least  that  she  might  have  her  infant.  He 
could  endure  his  bondage  no  longer.  He  resolved  to 


DISTINGUISHED   COLORED  MEN.  291 

escape  to  the  land  of  the  free,  and  there  earn  the  means 
and  find  the  way  to  bring  his  mother  to  partake  with 
him  of  the  blessings  of  liberty.  He  took  his  master's 
best  horse,  —  one  that  he  had  trained  to  do  great  feats,  if 
required,  —  and,  in  company  with  another  young  slave 
of  kindred  spirit,  also  well  mounted,  he  started,  on  the 
night  before  Christmas,  1834,  from  the  interior  of  Ten 
nessee,  near  Nashville,  to  go  to  Canada,  —  a  distance  of 
six  hundred  miles,  half  the  way  through  a  slaveholding 
country.  They  encountered,  as  they  expected  to  do, 
fearful  perils  and  exhausting  hardships.  At  last  they 
reached  a  place  of  safety,  but  it  was  in  the  dead  of  a 
Canadian  winter.  Their  stock  of  provisions  had  long 
since  been  exhausted  ;  their  money  was  all  spent ;  their 
clothing  utterly  insufficient ;  and  thus  they  had  come 
into  a  most  inhospitable  climate,  unknowing  and  un 
known,  at  a  season  of  the  year  when  little  employment 
was  to  be  had.  Undaunted  by  this  array  of  appalling 
circumstances,  Mr.  Loguen  persevered,  made  friends,  got 
work,  and  in  the  spring  of  1837,  only  three  years  after 
his  escape  from  slavery,  had  so  commended  himself  to 
the  confidence  of  an  employer  that  he  was  intrusted 
with  a  farm  of  two  hundred  acres,  near  Hamilton,  which 
he  was  to  work  on  shares.  Here,  and  afterwards  by 
labor  in  St.  Catharine,  he  laid  up  several  hundred  dol 
lars,  and  then  removed  to  Rochester,  N.  Y.  In  that  city 
he  obtained  a  situation  as  waiter  in  the  best  hotel, 
where,  by  his  aptness  and  readiness  to  serve,  he  so  in 
gratiated  himself  with  all  the  boarders  and  transient 
visitors  that  his  perquisites  amounted  to  more  than 
enough  to  support  him,  and  being  totally  abstinent  from 
the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  and  tobacco,  he  was  able 
to  lay  up  all  his  wages,  —  thirty  dollars  a  month.  At 
the  expiration  of  two  years  he  found  that,  together 
with  what  he  had  brought  from  Canada,  he  was  pos- 


292  AKTISL AVERT  CONFLICT. 

sessed  of  about  nine  hundred  dollars.  As  much  of  this 
as  might  be  necessary,  he  resolved  to  expend  in  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge.  Ever  since  his  arrival  at  the 
North  he  had  availed  himself  of  all  the  assistance  he 
could  get  to  learn  to  read,  and  had  attained  to  some  pro 
ficiency  in  the  art.  By  plying  this,  whenever  opportunity 
offered  him  the  use  of  books  and  newspapers,  he  had  add 
ed  much  to  his  information.  But  he  longed  for  more  ed 
ucation,  —  at  least  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  be  useful  as 
a  minister  of  religion,  or  as  a  teacher  of  the  children  of  his 
people.  So  he  left  his  lucrative  situation  in  Rochester,  and 
entered  the  Oneida  Institute,  a  manual  labor  school,  then 
under  the  excellent  management  of  Rev.  Beriah  Green. 

In  1841  Mr.  Loguen  came  to  reside  in  Syracuse,  and 
undertook  the  duties  of  pastor  of  the  "African  Methodist 
Church,"  and  of  school-teacher  to  the  children  of  his 
people.  In  both  these  offices  he  was  successful.  And 
not  in  these  alone.  With  the  help  of  one  of  the  best  of 
wives,  he  has  brought  up  a  family  of  children,  and  edu 
cated  them  well.  He  has  established  a  good,  commodi 
ous,  hospitable  home.  In  it  was  fitted  up  an  apartment 
for  fugitive  slaves,  and,  for  years  before  the  Emancipa 
tion  Act,  scarcely  a  week  passed  without  some  one,  in 
his  flight  from  slavedom  to  Canada,  enjoyed  shelter 
and  repose  at  Elder  Loguen's.  By  industry,  frugality, 
and  the  skilful  investment  of  his  property,  he  has  gained 
a  good  estate.  He  is  respected  by  his  fellow-citizens,  and 
has  so  risen  in  the  esteem  of  his  Methodist  brethren,  that 
within  the  last  year  he  has  been  made  a  bishop  of  their 
order. 

FREDERICK  DOUGLASS. 

I  need  give  but  one  more  example  of  a  colored  man  of 
my  acquaintance  who  has  exhibited  great  intellectual 
ability  as  well  as  moral  worth.  And  he  is  one  extensively 


DISTINGUISHED   COLORED  MEN.  203 

known  and  admired  throughout  our  country,  Great 
Britain,  and  Ireland.  Of  course  I  mean  Frederick  Doug 
lass.  His  well-written,  intensely  interesting  autobiog 
raphy,  entitled  "  My  Bondage  and  My  Freedom,"  has 
probably  been  read  so  generally  that  I  need  not  attempt 
any  sketch  of  his  life.  Suffice  it  to  say  he  was  born  a  slave 
in  Maryland.  He  experienced  all  the  indignities,  and 
suffered  most  of  the  hardships  and  cruelties,  that  passion 
ate  slaveholders  could  inflict  upon  their  bondmen.  When 
about  twenty-one  years  of  age  he  resolved  that  he  would 
endure  them  no  longer,  and  in  1838  he  found  his  way 
from  Baltimore  to  New  Bedford,  the  best  place,  on  the 
whole,  to  which  he  could  have  gone.  There,  with  his 
young  wife,  he  commenced  the  life  of  a  freeman.  The 
severest  toil  now  seemed  light.  He  worked  with  a  will, 
because  the  avails  of  his  labor  were  to  be  his  own.  Be 
ing,  as  most  colored  persons  are,  religiously  inclined,  he 
soon  became  a  member  of  a  Methodist  church,  and  ere 
long  was  appointed  a  class-leader  and  a  local  preacher. 

While  in  slavery  Mr.  Douglass  had  contrived,  in  vari 
ous  ingenious  ways,  to  learn  to  read  and  write.  So  soon, 
therefore,  as  he  came  to  live  in  Massachusetts,  he  dil 
igently  improved  his  enlarged  opportunities  to  acquire 
knowledge.  Erelong  he  became  a  subscriber  for  The 
Liberator,  and  week  after  week  made  himself  master  of 
its  contents,  in  which  he  never  found  a  silly  or  a  worth 
less  -line.  Of  course  its  doctrines  and  its  purpose  were 
altogether  such  as  his  own  bitter  experience  justified. 
And  the  exalted  spirit  of  religious  faith  and  hope,  at  all 
times  inspiring  the  writings  and  speeches  of  Mr.  Garri 
son,  awakened  in  the  bosom  of  Mr.  Douglass  the  assur 
ance  th?it  he  was  "  the  man,  —  the  Moses  raised  up  by 
God  to  deliver  his  Israel  in  America  from  a  worse  than 
Egyptian  bondage." 

In  the  summer  of  1841  there  was  a  large  antislaveiy 


294  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

convention  held  in  Nantucket.  Mr.  Douglass  attended 
it.  In  the  midst  of  the  meeting,  to  his  great  confusion, 
he  was  called  upon  and  urged  to  address  the  convention. 
A  number  were  present  from  New  Bedford  who  had 
heard  his  exhortations  in  the  Methodist  church,  and 
they  would  not  allow  his  plea  of  inability  to  speak. 
After  much  hesitation  he  rose,  and,  notwithstanding  his 
embarrassment,  he  gave  evidence  of  such  intellectual 
p0wer  —  wisdom  as  well  as  wit — that  all  present  were 
astonished.  Mr.  Garrison  followed  him  in  one  of  his  sub- 
limest  speeches.  "  Here  was  a  living  witness  of  the  justice 
of  the  severest  condemnation  he  had  ever  uttered  of  slav 
ery.  Here  was  one  '  every  inch  a  man,'  ay,  a  man  of  no 
common  power,  who  yet  had  been  held  at  the  South  as  a 
piece  of  property,  a  chattel,  and  had  been  treated  as  if 
he  were  a  domesticated  brute,"  &c. 

At  the  close  of  the  meeting,  Mr.  John  A.  Collins,  then 
the  general  agent  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  So 
ciety,  urgently  invited  Mr.  Douglass  to  become  a  lectur 
ing  agent.  He  begged  to  be  excused.  He  was  sure  that 
he  was  not  competent  to  such  an  undertaking.  But  Mr. 
Garrison  and  others,  who  had  heard  him  that  day,  joined 
Mr.  Collins  in  pressing  him  to  accept  the  appointment. 
He  yielded  to  the  pressure.  And,  in  less  than  three 
years  from  the  day  of  his  escape  from  slavery,  he  was 
introduced  to  the  people  of  New  England  as  a  suitable 
person  to  lecture  them  upon  the  subject  that  was  of 
more  moment  than  any  other  to  which  the  attention  of 
our  Republic  had  ever  been  called. 

Mr.  Douglass  henceforth  improved  rapidly.  He  ap 
plied  himself  diligently  to  reading  and  study.  The  num 
ber  and  range  of  his  topics  in  lecturing  increased  and  wid 
ened  continually.  He  soon  became  one  of  the  favorite 
antislavery  speakers.  The  notoriety  which  he  thus  ac 
quired  could  not  be  confined  to  New  England  or  the 


DISTINGUISHED   COLORED  MEN  295 

Northern  States.  A  murmur  of  inquiry  came  up  from 
Maryland  who  this  man  could  be.  A  pamphlet  which 
he  felt  called  upon  to  publish  in  1845,  in  answer  to  the 
current  assertions  that  he  was  an  impostor,  that  he 
had  never  been  a  slave,  made  it  no  longer  possible  to 
conceal  his  personality.  The  danger  of  his  being  cap 
tured  and  taken  back  to  Maryland  was  so  great  that  it 
was  thought  advisable  he  should  go  to  England.  Ac 
cordingly,  he  went  thither  that  year  in  company  with 
James  N.  Buffum,  one  of  the  truest  of  antislavery  men, 
and  with  the  Hutchinson  family,  the  sweetest  of  singers. 

Although  not  permitted  to  go  as  a  cabin  passenger, 
many  of  the  cabin  passengers  sought  to  make  his  ac 
quaintance  and  visited  him  in  the  steerage,  and  invited 
him  to  visit  them  on  the  saloon-deck.  At  length  they 
requested  him  to  give  them  an  antislavery  lecture. 
This  he  consented  and  was  about  to  do^  when  some  pas 
sengers  who  were  slaveholders  chose  to  consider  it  an  in 
sult  to  them,  and  were  proceeding  to  punish  him  for  his 
insolence  ;  they  threatened  even  to  throw  him  overboard, 
and  would  have  done  so  had  not  the  captain  of  the  steam 
er  interposed  his  absolute  authority  :  called  his  men,  and 
ordered  them  to  put  those  disturbers  of  the  peace  in 
irons  if  they  did  not  instantly  desist.  Of  course  they  at 
once  obeyed,  and  shrank  back  in  the  consciousness  that 
they  were  under  the  dominion  of  a  power  that  had  broken 
the  staff  of  such  oppressors  as  themselves. 

This  incident  of  the  voyage  was  reported  in  the  news 
papers  immediately  on  the  arrival  of  the  vessel  at 
Liverpool,  and  introduced  Mr.  Douglass  at  once  to  the 
British  public.  He  was  treated  with  great  attention  by 
the  Abolitionists  of  the  United  Kingdom ;  was  invited 
to  lecture  everywhere,  and  rendered  most  valuable  ser 
vices  to  the  cause  of  his  oppressed  countrymen.  So 
deeply  did  he  interest  the  philanthropists  of  that  coun- 


296  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

try  that  they  paid  seven  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  to 
procure  from  his  master  a  formal,  legal  certificate  of 
manumission,  so  that,  on  his  return  to  these  United 
States,  he  would  be  no  longer  liable  to  be  sent  back  into 
slavery.  They  also  presented  him  with  the  sum  of 
twenty-five  hundred  dollars  for  his  own  benefit,  to  be 
appropriated,  if  he  should  see  fit,  to  the  establishment 
of  a  weekly  paper  edited  by  himself,  which  was  then  his 
favorite  project. 

Soon  after  his  return  in  1847  he  did  establish  such  a  pa 
per  at  Rochester  and  conducted  it  with  ability  for  several 
years.  He  has  since  become  one  of  the  popular  lecturers 
of  our  country,  and  every  seasoif  has  as  many  invitations 
as  he  cares  to  accept.  He  is  extensively  known  and 
much  respected.  Many  there  are  who  wish  to  see  him 
a  member  of  Congress ;  and  we  confidently  predict  that, 
if  he  shall  ever  be  sent  to  Washington  as  a  Representa 
tive  or  a  Senator,  he  will  soon  become  a  prominent  man 
in  either  House. 

THE  UNDERGROUND  RAILROAD. 

Everybody  has  heard  of  the  Underground  Railroad. 
Many  have  read  of  its  operations  who  have  been  puzzled 
to  know  where  it  was  laid,  who  were  the  conductors  of 
it,  -who  kept  the  stations,  and  how  large  were  the  profits. 
As  the  company  is  dissolved,  the  rails  taken  up,  the  busi 
ness  at  an  end,  I  propose  now  to  tell  my  readers  about  it. 

There  have  always  been  scattered  throughout  the  slave- 
holding  States  individuals  who  have  abhorred  slavery, 
and  have  pitied  the  victims  of  our  American  despotism. 
These  persons  have  known,  or  have  taken  pains  to  find 
out,  others  at  convenient  distances  northward  from  their 
abodes  who  sympathized  with  them  in  commiserating  the 
slaves.  These  sympathizers  have  known  or  heard  of 


THE   UNDERGROUND  RAILROAD.  297 

others  of  like  mind  still  farther  North,  who  again  have 
had  acquaintances  in  the  free  States  that  they  knew 
would  help  the  fugitive  on  his  way  to  liberty.  Thus, 
lines  of  friends  at  longer  or  shorter  distances  were  formed 
from  many  parts  of  the  South  to  the  very  borders  of 
Canada,  —  not  very  straight  lines  generall}*,  but  such  as 
the  fleeing  bondmen  might  pass  over  safely,  if  they  could 
escape  their  pursuers  until  they  had  come  beyond  the 
second  or  third  stage  from  their  starting-point.  Fur 
nished  at  first  with  written  "  passes,"  as  from  their  mas 
ters,  and  afterwards  with  letters  of  introduction  from 
one  friend  to  another,  we  had  reason  to  believe  that  a 
large  proportion  of  those  who,  in  this  way,  attempted  to 
escape  from  slavery  were  successful.  Twenty  thousand 
at  least  found  homes  in  Canada,  and  hundreds  ventured 
to  remain  this  side  of  the  Lakes. 

So  long  ago  as  1834,  when  I  was  living  in  the  eastern 
part  of  Connecticut,  I  had  fugitives  addressed  to  my 
care.  I  helped  them  on  to  that  excellent  man,  Effing- 
ham  L.  Capron,  in  Uxbridge,  afterwards  in  Worcester, 
and  he  forwarded  them  to  secure  retreats. 

Ever  after  I  came  to  reside  in  Syracuse  I  had  much  to 
do  as  a  station-keeper  or  conductor  on  the  Underground 
Railroad,  until  slavery  was  abolished  by  the  Proclama 
tion  of  President  Lincoln,  and  subsequently  by  the  ac 
cording  Acts  of  Congress.  Fugitives  came  to  me  from 
Maryland,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Louisiana, 
They  came,  too,  at  all  hours  of  day  and  night,  some 
times  comfortably,  —  yes,  and  even  handsomely  clad, 
but  generally  in  clothes  every  way  unfit  to  be  worn,  and 
in  some  instances  too  unclean  and  loathsome  to  be  ad 
mitted  into  my  house.  Once  in  particular,  a  most 
squalid  mortal  came  to  my  back-door  with  a  note  that 
he  had  been  a  passenger  on  the  Underground  Rail 
road.  "  0  Massa,"  said  he,  "  I  'm  not  fit  to  come  into 
13* 


298  ANTISLAVEEY  CONFLICT. 

your  house."  "  No,"  I  replied,  "  you  are  not  now,  but 
soon  shall  be."  So  I  stepped  in  and  got  a  tub  of 
warm  water,  with  towels  and  soap.  He  helped  mo  with 
them  into  the  barn.  "  There,"  said  I,  "  give  yourself  a 
thorough  washing,  and  throw  every  bit  of  your  cloth 
ing  out  upon  the  dung-hill."  He  set  about  his  task 
with  a  hearty  good-will.  I  ran  back  to  the  house  and 
brought  out  to  him  a  complete  suit  of  clean  clothes 
from  a  deposit  which  my  kind  parishioners  kept  pretty 
well  supplied.  He  received  each  article  with  unspeaka 
ble  thankfulness.  But  the  clean  white  shirt,  with  a 
collar  and  stock,  delighted  him  above  measure.  He 
tarried  with  me  a  couple  of  days.  I  found  him  to  be  a 
man  of  much  natural  intelligence,  but  utterly  ignorant 
of  letters.  He  had  had  a  hard  master,  and  he  went  on 
his  way  to  Canada  exulting  in  his  escape  from  tyranny. 
In  contrast  with  this  specimen,  my  eldest  son,  late 
one  Saturday  night,  came  up  from  the  city,  and  as  he 
opened  the  parlor-door,  said,  "  Here,  father,  is  another 
living  epistle  to  you  from  the  South,"  and  ushered  in  a 
fine-looking,  well-dressed  young  man.  I  took  his  hand 
to  make  him  sure  of  a  welcome.  "  But  this,"  said  I, 
"  is  not  the  hand  of  one  who  has  been  used  to  doing  hard 
work.  It  is  softer  than  mine."  "  No,  sir,"  he  replied, 
"  I  have  not  been  allowed  to  do  work  that  would  harden 
my  hands.  I  have  been  the  slave  of  a  very  wealthy 
planter  in  Kentucky,  who  kept  me  only  to  drive  the  car 
riage  for  mistress  and  her  daughters,  to  wait  upon  them 
at  table,  and  accompany  them  on  their  journeys.  I  was 
not  allowed  even  to  groom  the  horses,  and  was  required 
to  wear  gloves  when  I  drove  them."  Perceiving  that  he 
used  good  language  and  pronounced  it  properly,  I  said, 
"  You  must  have  received  some  instruction.  I  thought 
the  laws  of  the  slave  States  sternly  prohibited  the  teach 
ing  of  slaves."  "  They  do,  sir,"  he  replied,  "but  my 


THE   UNDERGROUND  RAILROAD.  299 

master  was  an  easy  man  in  that  respect.  My  young 
mistresses  taught  me  to  read,  and  got  me  books  and 
papers  from  their  father's  library.  I  have  had  much 
leisure  time,  and  I  have  improved  it."  In  further  con 
versation  with  him  I  found  that  he  was  quite  familiar 
with  a  considerable  number  of  the  best  American  and 
English  authors,  both  in  poetry  and  prose.  "  If  you  had 
such  an  easy  time,  and  were  so  much  favored,  why,"  I 
asked,  "  did  you  run  away  ? "  "  0,  sir,"  he  replied, 
"  slavery  at  best  is  a  bitter  draught.  Under  the  most 
favored  circumstances  it  is  bondage  and  degradation  still. 
I  often  writhed  in  my  chains,  though  they  sat  so  lightly 
on  me  compared  with  most  others.  I  was  often  on  the 
point  of  taking  wings  for  the  North,  but  then  the  words 
of  Hamlet  would  come  to  me,  *  Better  to  bear  those  ills 
we  have,  than  fly  to  others  that  we  know  not  of,'  and  I 
should  have  remained  with  my  master  had  it  not  been  that 
I  learned,  a  few  weeks  ago,  that  he  was  about  to  sell  me  to 
a  particular  friend  of  his,  then  visiting  him  from  New 
Orleans.  I  suspected  this  evil  was  impending  over  me 
from  the  notice  the  gentleman  took  of  me  and  the  kind 
of  questions  he  asked  me. 

"  At  length,  one  of  my  young  mistresses,  who  knew  my 
dread  of  being  sold,  came  to  me  and,  bursting  into  tears, 
said,  '  Harry,  father  is  going  to  sell  you.'  She  put  five 
dollars  into  my  hand  and  went  weeping  away.  With 
that,  and  with  much  more  money  that  I  had  received  from 
time  to  time,  and  saved  for  the  hour  of  need,  I  started 
that  night  and  reached  the  Ohio  Eiver  before  morning. 
I  immediately  crossed  to  Cincinnati  and  hurried  on  board 
a  steamer,  the  steward  of  which  was  a  black  man  of  my 
acquaintance.  He  concealed  me  until  the  boat  had  re 
turned  to  Pittsburg.  There  he  introduced  me  to  a  gen 
tleman  that  he  knew  to  be  a  friend  of  us  colored  folks. 
That  gentleman  sent  me  to  a  friend  in  Meadville,  and  ho 


300  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

directed  me  to  come  to  you."  "  Well,"  said  I,  "  Harry,  if 
you  are  a  good  coachman  and  waiter  withal,  I  can  get  you 
an  excellent  situation  in  this  city,  which  will  enable  you  to 
live  comfortably  until  you  shall  have  become  acquainted 
with  our  Northern  manners  and  customs,  and  have  found 
some  better  business."  "  0,"  he  hastily  replied,  "  thank 
you,  sir,  but  I  should  not  dare  to  stop  this  side  of  Canada. 
My  master,  though  he  was  kind  to  me,  is  a  proud  and 
very  passionate  man.  He  will  never  forgive  me  for  run 
ning  away.  He  has  already  advertised  me,  offering  a 
large  reward  for  my  apprehension  and  return  to  him.  I 
should  not  be  beyond  his  reach  here.  I  must  go  to 
Canada."  He  tarried  with  us  until  Monday  afternoon, 
when  I  sent  him  to  Oswego  with  a  letter  of  introduction 
to  a  gentleman  in  Kingston,  and  a  few  days  afterwards 
heard  of  his  safe  .arrival  there. 

Not  long  after,  I  one  day  saw  a  young  lady,  of  fine 
person  and  handsomely  dressed,  coming  up  our  front 
steps.  She  inquired  for  me,  and  was  ushered  into  my 
study.  A  blue  veil  partly  concealed  her  face  and  a  pair 
of  white  gloves  covered  her  hands.  On  being  assured 
that  I  was  Mr.  S.  J.  May  she  said,  "  I  have  come  to  you, 
sir,  as  a  friend  of  colored  people  and  of  slaves."  "  Is  it 
possible,"  I  replied,  "  that  you  are  one  of  that  class  of 
my  fellow-beings  1 "  She  removed  her  veil,  and  a  slight 
tinge  in  her  complexion  revealed  the  fact  that  she  be 
longed  to  the  proscribed  race,  —  a  beautiful  octoroon. 
"But  where  were  you  ever  a  slave?"  I  asked.  "In 
New  Orleans,  sir.  My  master,  who,  I  believe,  was  also 
my  father,  is  concerned  in  a  line  of  packet  steamers  that 
ply  between  New  Orleans  and  Galveston.  He  has,  for 
several  years  past,  kept  me  on  board  one  of  his  boats  as 
the  chamber-maid.  This  was  rather  an  easy  and  not  a  dis 
agreeable  situation.  I  was  with  the  lady  passengers  most 
of  the  time,  and  by  my  close  attentions  to  them,  espe- 


THE  UNDERGROUND  RAILROAD.  301 

cially  when  they  were  sea-sick,  I  conciliated  many.  They 
often  made  me  presents  of  money,  clothes,  and  trinkets. 
And,  what  was  better  than  all,  they  taught  me  to  read. 
At  each  end  of  the'route  I  had  hours  and  days  of  leisure, 
which  I  improved  as  best  I  could.  The  thought  that  I 
was  a  slave  often  tormented  me.  But,  as  in  other  re 
spects  I  was  comfortable,  I  might  have  continued  in 
bondage,  had  I  not  found  out  that  my  master  was  about 
to  sell  me  to  a  dissolute  young  man  for  the  vilest  of  pur 
poses.  I  at  once  looked  about  for  a  way  of  escape.  Being 
so  much  of  the  time  among  the  shipping  at  New  Orleans, 
I  had  leamt  to  distinguish  the  vessels  of  different  nations. 
So  I  went  to  one  that  I  saw  was  an  English  ship,  on 
board  of  which  I  espied  a  lady,  —  the  captain's  wife.  I 
asked  if  I  might  come  on  board.  '  Certainly,'  she  re 
plied.  Encouraged  by  her  kind  manner,  I  soon  revealed 
to  her  my  secret  and  my  wish  to  escape.  She  could 
hardly  be  persuaded  that  I  was  a  slave.  But  when  all 
doubt  on  that  point  was  removed,  she  readily  consented 
to  take  me  with  her  to  New  York.  To  my  unspeakable 
relief  we  sailed  the  next  day.  The  captain  was  equally 
kind.  I  was  able  to  pay  as  much  as  he  would  take  for 
my  passage,  for  I  had  succeeded  in  getting  all  the  money 
I  had  saved,  with  much  of  my  clothing,  on  board  the 
ship  the  night  before  she  left  New  Orleans.  On  our 
arrival  at  New  York  the  captain  took  pains  to  inquire 
for  the  Abolitionists.  He  was  directed  to  Mr.  Lewis 
Tappan,  and  took  me  with  him  to  that  good  gentleman. 
Mr.  Tappan  at  once  provided  for  my  safety  in  that  city, 
and  the  next  day  sent  me  to  Mr.  Myers,  at  Albany,  on 
my  way  to  you." 

I  offered  to  find  a  place  for  her  in  some  one  of  the  best 
families  in  Syracuse  ;  but  she  was  afraid  to  remain  here. 
She  had  seen  in  New  York  her  master's  advertisement, 
offering  five  hundred  dollars  for  her  restoration  to  him. 


302  ANTISL AVERT  CONFLICT. 

She  was  sure  there  were  pursuers  on  her  track.  Two  men 
in  the  car  between  Albany  and  Syracuse  had  annoyed  and 
alarmed  her  by  their  close  observation  of  her.  One  had 
seated  himself  by  her  side  and  tried  to  engage  her  in 
conversation  and  look  through  her  veil.  At  length  he 
asked  her  to  take  off  the  glove  on  her  left  hand.  By  this 
she  knew  he  must  have  seen  the  advertisement,  that 
stated,  among  other  marks  by  which  she  might  be  iden 
tified,  that  one  finger  on  her  left  hand  was  minus  a  joint. 
She  at  once  called  to  the  conductor  and  asked  him  to 
protect  her  from  the  impertinent  liberties  the  man  was 
taking  with  her.  So  he  gave  her  another  seat  by  a  lady, 
and  she  reached  our  city  without  any  further  molestation, 
but  in  great  alarm. 

We  secreted  her  several  days,  until  we  supposed  her 
pursuers  must  have  gone  on.  She  occupied  herself  most 
of  the  time  by  reading,  and  we  observed  that  she  often 
was  poring  over  a  French  book,  and  on  inquiring  learnt 
that  she  could  read  that  language  about  as  well  as  Eng 
lish.  So  soon  as  her  fears  were  sufficiently  allayed,  I 
committed  her  to  the  care  of  one  of  my  good  antislavery 
parishioners  who  happened  to  be  going  to  Oswego.  He 
escorted  her  thither,  saw  her  safely  on  board  the  steam 
boat  for  Kingston,  and  a  few  days  afterwards  I  received 
a  well-written  letter  from  her  informing  me  of  her  safe 
arrival,  and  that  she  had  obtained  a  good  situation  in  a 
pleasant  family  as  children's  maid. 

I  need  give  my  readers  but  one  more  specimen  of  the 
many  passengers  I  have  conducted  on  the  Underground 
Railroad.  At  eleven  o'clock  one  Saturday  night,  in  the 
fall  of  the  year,  three  stalwart  negroes  came  to  my  door 
with  "  a  pass "  from  a  friend  in  Albany.  They  were 
miserably  clad  for  that  season  of  the  year  and  almost 
famished  with  hunger.  We  gave  them  a  good,  hearty 
supper,  but  could  not  accommodate  them  through  the 


THE  UNDERGROUND  RAILROAD.  303 

night.  So  at  twelve  o'clock  I  sallied  forth  with  them  to 
find  a  place  or  places  where  they  could  be  safely  and 
comfortably  kept,  until  we  could  forward  them  to  Canada. 
This  was  not  so  easily  dono  as  it  might  have  been  at  an 
earlier  hour.  I  did  not  get  back  to  my  home  until  after 
two  in  the  morning.  The  next  forenoon,  after  sermon 
I  made  known  to  my  congregation  their  destitute  condi 
tion,  and  asked  for  clothes  and  money.  Before  night  I 
received  enough  of  each  for  the  three,  and  some  to  spare 
for  other  comers.  I  need  only  add,  that  in  due  time 
they  were  safely  committed  to  the  protection  of  the 
British  Queen. 

Other  friends  of  the  slave  in  Syracuse  were  often 
called  upon  in  like  manner,  and  sometimes  put  to  as 
great  inconvenience  as  I  was  in  the  last  instance  named 
above.  So  we  formed  an  association  to  raise  the  means 
to  carry  on  our  operations  at  this  station.  And  we 
made  an  arrangement  with  Rev.  J.  W.  Loguen  to  fit  up 
suitably  an  apartment  in  his  house  for  the  accommoda 
tion  of  all  the  fugitives,  that  might  come  here  addressed 
to  either  one  of  us.  The  charge  thus  committed  to  them 
Mr.  Loguen  and  his  excellent  wife  faithfully  and  kindly 
cared  for  to  the  last.  And  I  more  than  suspect  that  the 
fugitives  they  harbored,  and  helped  on  their  way,  often 
cost  them  much  more  than  they  called  upon  us  to  pay. 

It  was  natural  that  T  should  feel  not  a  little  curious, 
and  sometimes  quite  anxious,  to  know  how  those  whom 
I  had  helped  into  Canada  were  faring  there.  So.  I  went 
twice  to  see  ;  the  first  time  to  Toronto  and  its  neighbor 
hood,  the  second  time  to  that  part  of  Canada  which  lies 
between  Lake  Erie  and  Lake  Huron.  I  visited  Windsor, 
Sandwich,  Chatham,  and  Buxton.  In  each  of  these 
towns  I  found  many  colored  people,  most  of  whom  had 
escaped  thither  from  slavery  in  one  or  another  of  the 
United  States.  With  very  few  exceptions,  I  found  them 


304  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

living  comfortably,  and,  without  an  exception,  all  of  them 
were  rejoicing  in  their  liberty. 

I  was  particularly  interested  in  the  Buxton  settlement, 
called  so  in  honor  of  that  distinguished  English  philan 
thropist,  Hon.  Fowell  Buxton.  It  was  established  by 
the  benevolent  enterprise  and  managed  by  the  excellent 
good  sense  of  Rev.  William  King.  This  gentleman  was 
a  well-educated  Scotch  Presbyterian  minister.  He  had 
come  to  America  and  settled  in  Mississippi.  There  he 
married  a  lady  whose  parents  soon  after  died,  leaving 
him,  with  his  wife,  in  possession  of  a  considerable  prop 
erty  in  slaves.  He  was  ill  at  ease  in  such  a  possession, 
but,  as  he  held  it  in  the  right  of  his  wife,  he  did  not  feel 
at  liberty  to  do  with  it  as  he  would  otherwise  have  done. 
A  few  years  afterwards  she  died.  By  this  dispensation 
he  was  made  the  sole  proprietor  of  the  persons  of  fifteen 
of  his  fellow-beings,  and  he  was  brought  to  feel  that  the 
great  purpose  of  his  life  should  be  to  deliver  them  from 
slavery,  and  place  them  in  circumstances  under  which 
they  might  become  what  God  had  made  them  capable  of 
being.  With  this  purpose  at  heart  he  went  to  Canada. 
He  purchased  nine  thousand  acres  of  government  land 
of  good  quality  and  well  located,  though  covered  with  a 
dense  forest.  To  this  place  he  transported,  from  Missis 
sippi,  his  fifteen  slaves,  and  gave  to  each  of  them  fifty  acres. 
He  then  offered  to  sell  farms  for  two  dollars  and  a  half  an 
acre  to  colored  men,  who  should  bring  satisfactory  testimo 
nials  of  good  moral  character  and  strictly  temperate  habits. 
When  I  was  there  in  1852,  about  four  years  after  the 
beginning  of  his  undertaking,  there  were  ninety  families 
settled  in  Buxton.  Mr.  King  told  me  there  had  not  been 
a  single  instance  of  intoxication  or  of  any  disorderly 
conduct,  and  most  of  them  had  nearly  paid  for  their 
farms. 

I  spent  the  whole  day  with  this  wise  man,  this  prac- 


GEORGE  LATIMER.  305 

tical  philanthropist,  in  visiting  the  settlers  at  their  homes 
in  the  woods.  I  found  them  all  contented,  happy,  en 
terprising.  Several  of  them  confessed  to  me  that  they 
had  never  suffered  such  hardships  as  they  had  experi 
enced  since  they  came  to  live  in  Canada.  The  severity 
of  the  cold  had  sometimes  tried  them  to  the  utmost,  and 
clearing  up  their  heavy-timbered  lands  had  been  hard 
work  indeed,  especially  for  those  who  had  been  house- 
servants  in  Southern  cities.  But  not  one  of  them  looked 
back  with  desiring  eyes  to  the  leeks  and  onions  of  the 
Egypt  from  which  they  had  escaped.  They  seemed  to 
be  sustained  and  animated  by  one  of  the  noblest  senti 
ments  that  can  take  possession  of  the  human  soul,  —  the 
love  of  liberty,  the  determination  to  be  free.  They 
had  cheerfully  made  sacrifices  in  this  behalf.  Like  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  of  New  England,  many  of  them  had 
fled  from  the  abodes  of  ease,  elegance,  luxury,  and 
sought  homes  in  a  wilderness  that  they  might  be  free. 
Like  them  they  counted  it  all  joy  to  suffer,  —  perils  by 
land  and  by  water,  travels  by  night,  a  flight  in  the  winter, 
and  a  life  in  the  wilds  in  an  inhospitable  climate,  if  by  so 
suffering  they  might  secure  to  themselves  and  their  pos 
terity  the  inestimable  boon  of  liberty. 

GEORGE  LATIMER. 

It  must  be  obvious  to  my  readers  that  T  have  not 
been  guided  in  my  narrative  by  the  order  of  time,  so 
much  as  by  the  relation  of  events  and  actors  to  one  an 
other.  My  last  article  had  to  do  in  part  with  occurrences 
that  happened  in  1852.  I  shall  now  return  to  1842. 

Much  to  my  surprise,  in  1842,  I  was  nominated  by 
H6n.  Horace  Mann,  and  appointed  by  the  Massachusetts 
Board  of  Education,  to  succeed  Rev.  Cyrus  Peirce  as 
Principal  of  the  Normal  School  then  at  Lexington. 


306  ANTISL AVERT   CONFLICT. 

At  once  was  heard  from  various  quarters  murmurs  of 
displeasure,  because  an  Abolitionist  had  been  intrusted 
with  the  preparation  of  teachers  for  our  common  schools. 
Mr.  Mann  was  not  a  little  annoyed.  He  earnestly  ad 
monished  me  to  beware  of  giving  occasion  to  those  un 
friendly  to  the  school  to  allege  that  I  was  taking  ad 
vantage  of  my  position  to  disseminate  my  antislavery 
opinions  and  spirit.  I  assured  him  that  I  should  not 
conceal  my  sentiments  and  feelings  on  a  subject  of  such 
transcendent  importance.  But  he  might  depend  upon 
me  that  I  should  not  give  any  time  that  belonged  to  the 
school  to  any  other  institution  or  enterprise;  that  I 
should  conscientiously  endeavor  to  discharge  faithfully 
every  one  of  my  duties ;  but  that,  as  I  should  not  be 
able  to  attend  antislavery  meetings,  or  co-operate  per 
sonally  with  the  Abolitionists,  except  perhaps  in  vaca 
tions,  I  should  contribute  to  their  treasury  more  money 
than  I  had  hitherto  been  able  to  afford. 

Accordingly,  I  consecrated  every  day  and  every  evening 
of  every  week  of  term  time  to  my  duties,  so  long  as  I 
was  principal  of  that  school,  excepting  only  the  after 
noon  and  evening  of  every  Saturday.  Those  hours  I  al 
ways  gave  up  to  some  kind  of  recreation.  So  much  as 
this  about  myself,  the  readers  will  soon  perceive,  is  per 
tinent  to  the  tale  now  to  be  unfolded. 

Some  time  in  the  month  of  October,  1842,  an  inter 
esting  young  man,  calling  himself  George  Latimer,  made 
his  appearance  in  Boston.  He  was  so  nearly  white  that 
few  stfspected  he  belonged  to  the  proscribed  class.  But 
soon  afterwards  a  Mr.  Gray,  of  Norfolk,  Virginia,  arrived 
in  the  city,  and  claimed  the  young  man  as  his  slave. 
At  his  instigation  a  constable  arrested  Latimer,  and  the 
keeper  of  Leverett  Street  Jail  took  him  into  confinement. 
Their  only  warrant  for  this  assault  upon  the  liberty  of 
Latimer  was  a  written  order  from  the  said  Gray.  It  was 
as  follows  :  — 


GEOItGE  LATIMER.  307 

"  TO  THE  JAILER  OF   THE  COUNTY  OF  SUFFOLK. 

"  SIR,  —  George  Latimer,  a  negro  slave  belonging  to  me, 
and  a  fugitive  from  my  service  in  Norfolk,  in  the  State  of 
Virginia,  who  is  now  committed  to  your  custody  by  John 
Wilson,  my  agent  and  attorney,  I  request  and  DIRECT  you  to 
hold  on  my  account,  at  my  costs,  until  removed  by  me  ac 
cording  to  law. 

"  JAMES  B.  GRAY. 

"  BOSTON,  October  21,  1842." 

To  this  high-handed  assumption  of  authority  was 
added  an  indorsement,  by  a  young  lawyer  of  Boston,  of 
which  the  following  is  a  copy  :  — 

"  BOSTON,  October  21, 1842. 

"  I  hereby  promise  to  pay  to  the  keeper  of  the  jail  any  sum 
due  him  for  keeping  the  body  of  said  Latimer,  on  demand. 

"  E.  G.  AUSTIN." 

With  reason  were  the  good  people  of  Boston  and  the 
old  Commonwealth  aroused,  excited,  almost  maddened 
with  indignation  and  alarm  at  this  insolent,  daring  as 
sault  upon  the  palladium  of  their  liberty.  If  such  a 
proceeding  should  be  allowed,  no  one  would  be  safe,  black 
or  white.  Here  comes  a  man  from  a  distant  part  of  our 
country,  an  utter  stranger  in  our  city,  and  arrests  another 
man  about  as  light-complexioned  as  himself,  claims  him 
as  his  negro  slave,  and,  without  offering  any  proof  that 
he  had  ever  held  the  man  in  that  condition,  hands 
him  over  to  a  common  jailer  for  safe-keeping.  This 
surely  could  not  be  borne  with.  Some  of  the  colored 
people  to  whom  Latimer  was  known  first  bestirred 
themselves.  They  attempted  to  get  him  out  of  prison 
by  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  Hon.  Samuel  E.  Sewall, 
the  long-tried  friend  of  the  oppressed,  always  ready  to 
endure  obloquy  and  encounter  danger  in  their  service, 
assisted  by  his  friend,  C.  M.  Ellis,  Esq.,  earnestly  en- 


308  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

deavored  to  get  that  writ  allowed.  They  petitioned  for 
it  in  the  Court  at  which  Chief  Justice  Shaw  was  then 
presiding,  and,  strange  to  say,  their  petition  was  denied. 
That  eminent  jurist,  on  the  authority  of  the  United  States 
Court,  in  the  famous  Prigg  case,  gave  it  as  his  opinion, 
that,  by  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  so  expounded,  the 
man  Gray  had  permission  to  come  to  Boston  and  seize 
the  man  Latimer  (as  he  had  done),  put  him  into  jail  or 
some  other  place  of  confinement,  and  keep  him  there 
until  he  could  have  time  to  bring  on  proof  that  he  was 
his  property,  and  then  take  him  off  by  the  assistance  of 
any  persons  he  could  get  to  help  him.  Accordingly, 
Judge  Shaw  refused  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and 
left  Latimer  in  Leverett  Street  prison.  This  action  of 
the  chief  justice  aggravated  the  public  excitement. 

Mr.  Gray,  alarmed  probably  by  the  outcries  of  indig 
nation  that  came  to  him  from  so  many  quarters,  brought 
charges  against  Latimer  of  thefts  committed  upon  his 
property,  both  in  Norfolk  and  in  Boston,  as  the  reason 
for  his  arrest.  If  this  were  true,  it  was  said,  he  surely 
should  have  proceeded  against  the  criminal,  in  the  ordi 
nary  course  at  common  law,  and  not  under  the  decision 
in  the  Prigg  case.  But  by  this  step  he  got  himself  into 
another  and  graver  difficulty.  George  Latimer,  instructed 
by  his  legal  advisers,  at  once  commenced  the  prosecution 
of  Gray  for  slander  and  libel.  So  the  biter,  finding  he 
was  about  to  be  bitten,  let  go  this  hold  upon  poor  Lati 
mer,  and  determined  to  rely  wholly  upon  the  decision  of 
Judge  Story  of  the  United  States  Court,  who  was  soon 
to  hold  a  session  in  Boston. 

But  the  excitement  of  the  public  had  spread  far  and 
wide,  and  the  tones  of  indignation  were  deeper  and  loud 
er.  An  immense  meeting  was  held  in  Faneuil  Hall.  Mr. 
Sewall  presided,  and  made  a  full,  clear  statement  of  the 
case,  exhibiting  all  its  odious  features.  Mr.  Edmund 


GEORGE  LATIMER.  309 

Quincy  addressed  the  meeting  with  great  force  ;  and  Mr. 
Phillips  spoke  most  effectively.  Public  meetings  on  the 
subject  were  held  in  Lynn,  Salem,  New  Bedford,  Wor 
cester,  Abington,  and  in  many  other  large  towns.  And 
petitions  were  prepared  and  extensively  signed  and  sent 
to  Congress,  praying  that  we  of  the  free  States  might  be 
relieved  from  such  outrages  upon  the  feelings  of  the 
people,  and  such  violations  of  common  law,  as  could  be 
perpetrated  under  the  exposition  of  United  States  law, 
given  by  the  court  in  the  "  Prigg  case."  Petitions  were 
also  prepared  and  extensively  signed  to  the  Massachusetts 
Legislature,  praying  that  the  prisons  and  jails  of  the  Com 
monwealth  might  not  be  used  by  slaveholders  or  their 
agents  for  the  safe-keeping  of  their  fugitive  bondmen 
when  retaken  ;  and  that  all  sheriffs,  constables,  police 
officers  of  every  grade  might  be  peremptorily  forbidden, 
in  any  way,  to  assist  in  the  capture  or  return  of  slaves. 

The  sheriff  and  the  deputy  sheriff  of  Suffolk  County  and 
the  keeper  of  Leverett  Street  Jail  were  severely  censured 
for  the  part  they  had  taken  in  Mr.  Gray's  service.  And 
the  sheriff  was  about  to  order  the  release  of  Latimer, 
when  negotiations  were  entered  into  with  Mr.  Gray  for 
the  purchase  of  his  victim's  emancipation.  Fearing  that 
he  might  lose  all,  he  concluded  to  take  a  part,  and  sold 
him  for  four  hundred  dollars,  although  he  had  declared 
he  would  not  let  him  go  for  three  times  that  sum. 

Wholly  engrossed  as  I  was  by  my  duties  in  the  Nor 
mal  School,  I  could  not  help  hearing  of  the  great  excite 
ment,  and  sympathizing  with  those  who  were  determined 
Massachusetts  should  not  be  made  a  hunting-ground  for 
slaves.  At  length  it  was  reported  that  there  was  to  be 
"  a  Latimer  meeting  "  at  Waltham,  five  or  six  miles  from 
Lexington.  And  lo  !  a  few  days  afterwards  there  came 
letters  from  Rev.  Samuel  Ripley,  then  the  prominent 
minister  of  Waltham,  and  from  his  son-in-law,  the  Rev. 


310  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

George  F.  Simmons,  who  a  few  years  before  had  been 
compelled  to  resign  his  pastorate  of  the  Unitarian 
Church  of  Mobile,  and  hastily  leave  the  city,  because 
he  had  dared  to  speak  from  his  pulpit  of  the  evils  of 
slavery  and  the  duties  of  those  who  held  their  fellow- 
beings  in  that  condition. 

Each  of  those  gentlemen  cordially  invited  me,  urgent 
ly  requested  me,  to  attend  the  meeting  in  behalf  of 
George  Latimer  that  was  to  be  held  in  their  meeting 
house,  adding  that  it  was  appointed  on  the  next  Satur 
day  evening,  so  as  to  accommodate  the  operatives  in  the 
factories,  who  were  not  required  to  work  on  that  evening. 

As  I  have  already  said,  Saturday  evening  was  my 
leisure  time.  Always  on  closing  school  at  noon  of  Satur 
day,  I  endeavored  to  lay  aside  my  cares  with  my  text 
books,  and  if  possible  think  no  more  of  school  until  Sun 
day  evening,  when  I  never  failed  to  examine  the  lessons 
I  intended  to  teach  the  next  day.  It  seemed  to  me  that 
nothing  would  refresh  and  recreate  me  so  much  as  at 
tending  an  antislavery  meeting,  and  giving  vent  to  my 
pent-up  feelings.  Then  I  was  the  more  eager  to  go  to 
Waltham,  because  Mr.  Ripley  was  one  of  those  who  had 
been  particularly  severe  and  satirical  in  their  remarks 
upon  my  appointment  to  the  charge  of  the  Normal 
School.  I  really  wished  to  see  how  he  would  look,  and 
act,  and  speak,  under  the  inspiration  of  his  new-born 
zeal  in  the  cause  of  freedom.  So  I  informed  my  two 
devoted  assistants,  who  needed  recreation  riot  less  than 
myself,  and  who  I  knew  were  zealous  Abolitionists,  of 
my  intention,  and  invited  them  to  accompany  me.  Al 
most  immediately  I  received  the  names  of  twenty  of  my 
pupils  who  wished  to  attend  the  meeting.  Accordingly, 
I  procured  two  double  sleighs,  and  we  started  for  Wal 
tham,  as  I  supposed  in  good  season.  But  we  did  not 
not  reach  the  meeting-house  until  just  as  the  exercises 


GEORGE  LATIMER.  311 

were  to  begin.  We  naturally  walked  in  together  with 
out  the  slightest  thought  of  making  a  parade.  But 
on  opening  the  door,  we  found  all  the  pews  filled  except 
ing  the  conspicuous  ones,  on  either  side  of  the  pulpit. 
To  these,  therefore,  we  went  as  quietly  as  possible,  but 
not  without  attracting  the  notice  of  the  audience,  and 
calling  out  the  remark  from  more  than  one,  "  There 
comes  Mr.  May  with  his  Normal  School ! " 

Before  long  I  was  invited  by  Rev.  Mr.  Ripley,  who 
presided,  to  address  the  meeting.  I  did  so  for  twenty 
minutes  or  more,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  my  words 
and  manner,  my  accents  and  emphases,  showed  plainly 
enough  how  deep  was  my  abhorrence  of  slavery,  and  how 
sincerely  I  sympathized  in  the  public  alarm  caused  by 
the  high-handed  procedure  of  the  claimant  of  Latimer 
and  his  abettors. 

I  returned  to  Lexington  revived,  invigorated,  knowing 
that  I  had  neglected  no  duty  to  the  school,  and  utterly 
unconscious  that  I  had  violated  any  obligations,  ex 
pressed  or  implied  by  my  words,  when  I  accepted  the  ap 
pointment.  But  a  few  days  afterwards  I  received  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Mann,  complaining  of  what  I  had  done,  inform 
ing  me  that  I  had  given  serious  offence  to  several  prom 
inent  gentlemen  of  Waltham,  and  had  lost  as  a  pupil  a 
bright,  fine  girl  who  was  intending  to  enter  my  school  at 
the  beginning  of  the  next  term.  I  replied  stating  the 
circumstances  of  the  case  just  as  I  have  done  above,  — 
that  I  had  taken  no  time,  withheld  no  attention,  no 
thought,  which  was  due  to  the  school ;  adding  that  I  did 
not  believe  any  concealment  of  my  sentiments,  or  other 
unreasonable  concessions  to  the  prejudices  of  the  pro- 
slavery  portion  of  the  community,  would  conciliate  them. 
But,  as  it  seemed  my  understanding  of  my  duties  differed 
so  much  from  his,  I  thought  it  best  for  me  to  retire  from 
the  position ;  and  therefore  I  tendered  him  my  resigna- 


312  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

tion.  This  he  would  not  communicate  to  the  Board, 
and  requested  me  to  withdraw  it.  I  did  so.  But 
scarcely  a  month  had  elapsed  before  it  was  announced 
in  the  newspapers  that  I  was  to  deliver  one  in  a  course 
of  antislavery  lectures  in  Boston,  without  stating,  as  I 
had  requested,  that  it  would  be  given  during  my  vaca 
tion.  This  brought  a  still  more  earnest  remonstrance 
from  Mr.  Mann,  showing  how  hard  pressed  he  was  on 
every  side  by  the  conflicting  influences,  in  the  midst  of 
which  he  was  striving  so  nobly  to  infuse  into  our  com 
mon  schools  the  right  spirit,  and  to  establish  our  system 
of  public  instruction  upon  the  true  principles  of  human 
development  and  culture.  In  this  instance  he  was  more 
easily  satisfied  that  I  had  not  departed  from  even  the 
letter  of  our  agreement,  though  I  have  no  doubt  he 
wished  I  would  keep  my  antislavery  zeal  in  abeyance 
through  my  vacations,  as  well  as  in  term  time. 

I  have  given  this  recollection,  that  my  readers  may  be 
more  fully  informed  to  what  extent  the  so-called  free 
States  of  our  Union,  not  excepting  Massachusetts,  were 
permeated  by  the  spirit  of  the  slaveholders,  or  rather  by 
the  disposition  to  acquiesce  in  their  most  overbearing 
demands. 

Let  it  not,  however,  for  a  moment  be  inferred,  from 
what  I  have  related,  that  Horace  Mann  was  ever  willing, 
for  any  consideration,  to  abandon  the  rights  of  the  en 
slaved  to  the  will  of  their  oppressors,  and  suffer  the 
dominion  of  slaveholders  to  be  extended  over  the  whole 
of  our  country.  Far  otherwise.  A  few  years  after  the 
arrest  of  Latimer,  Mr.  Mann  became  a  member  of  Con 
gress  ;  and  there  he  uttered  some  of  the  boldest  words 
for  freedom  and  humanity  ever  heard  in  our  Capitol.  As 
he  assured  his  constituents,  in  convention  at  Dedham  on 
the  Gth  November,  1850,  "  with  voice  and  vote,  by  ex 
postulation  and  by  remonstrance,  by  all  means  in  his 


THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS.        313 

power,  to  the  full  extent  of  his  ability,  he  resisted  the 
passage  of  all  the  laws"  proposed  in  Mr.  Clay's  Omnibus 
Bill,  especially  the  one  respecting  fugitives  from  slavery. 
He  emphatically  declared  that  "  he  regarded  the  question 
of  human  freedom,  with  all  the  public  and  private  conse 
quences  dependent  upon  it,  both  now  and  in  all  futurity, 
as  first,  foremost,  chiefest  among  all  the  questions  that 
have  been  before  the  government,  or  are  likely  to  be  be 
fore  it." 

But  in  1842  Mr.  Mann  could  not  foresee,  nor  be  per 
suaded  to  apprehend,  that  the  senators  and  representa 
tives  of  the  Southern  States  would  become  audacious 
enough  in  1850  to  demand  that  the  people  of  the  free 
States  should  do  for  them  the  work  of  slave-catchers  and 
bloodhounds.  And  he  was,  at  that  time,  so  intent  upon 
his  great  undertaking  for  the  improvement  of  our  com 
mon  schools,  that  he  thought  it  our  duty  to  repress  our 
interest  in  every  other  reform  that  was  unpopular. 


THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS. 

He  who  knew  so  well  what  is  in  man  said  :  "  The 
children  of  this  world  are  wiser  towards  their  generation 
than  the  children  of  light."  And  certainly  the  slave 
holders  of  our  country  and  their  partisans  have  been 
incomparably  more  vigildht  in  watching  for  whatever 
might  affect  the  stability  of  their  "  peculiar  institution," 
and  far  more  adroit  in  devising  measures,  and  resolute 
in  pressing  them  to  the  maintenance  and  extension  of 
Slavery,  than  their  opponents  have  been  in  behalf  of 
Liberty. 

.Slave  labor  has  ever  been  found  wasteful  and  ex 
haustive  of  the  soil  from  which  it  has  taken  the  crops. 
Therefore,  it  used  to  be  a  common  saying,  "  the  South 
ern  planter  needs  all  the  lauds  that  join  his  estate." 

14 


314  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

Ample  as  was  the  territory  of  that  portion  of  the  United 
States  in  which  slavery  was  established,  the  "  barons  of 
the  South  "  early  looked  beyond  their  borders  for  new 
acquisitions  of  land.  Partly  to  gratify  their  cupidity, 
the  immense  tract  of  land  between  the  Mississippi  and 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  with  the  valley  of  the  Columbia 
River,  was  purchased  by  our  Federal  Government  in  1803. 
Sixteen  years  afterwards  Florida  was  given  them.  And 
then  they  began  to  turn  their  desiring  eyes  upon  the 
rich  and  fertile  plains  of  Texas.  They  gained  admission 
to  these  by  an  artifice  worthy  of  men  who  were  accus 
tomed  to  set  at  naught  all  the  rights  of  humanity.  In 
1819  a  man  named  Austin,  then  living  in  Missouri,  went 
to  Spain,  represented  to  the  King  that  the  Roman  Cath 
olics  in  the  United  States  were  subjected  to  grievous 
perseciitions,  and  supplicated  for  them  an  asylum  in 
Mexico.  His  pious  Majesty,  deeply  moved  by  this  ap 
peal,  made  a  very  large  and  gratuitous  grant  of  land  of 
the  finest  quality  to  Austin  and  his  associates  on  this 
one  condition,  that  they  should  introduce  within  a  limited 
time  a  certain  number  of  Roman  Catholic  settlers  "  of 
good  moral  character."  This  condition  was  complied 
with,  and  thus  our  Southern  slaveholders  gained  a  foot 
hold  in  Texas.  They  were  diligent  to  confirm  and  ex 
tend  their  possession  by  the  sale  of  immense  quantities 
of  land  to  intended  settlers  and  to  land  jobbers  through 
out  the  Southern  States.  Thus  commenced  what  ere 
long  became  "  one  of  the  most  stupendous  systems  of 
bribery  and  corruption  ever  devised  by  man." 

In  1821  Mexico  became  independent  of  the  Spanish 
crown,  and  soon  after  confirmed  the  royal  grant  ton  the 
settlers  in  her  province  of  Texas.  In  1824  the,  Mexi 
can  Government  adopted  some  measures  preparatory  to 
the  manumission  of  slaves,  and  in  1829  decreed  the 
complete  ancj  immediate  emancipation  of  all  in  bonds 
throughout  their  borders. 


THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS.        315 

The  vigilant  Southerners  were  of  course  alarmed.  A 
nation  of  freemen  adjoining  them  on  the  Southwest ! 
A  door  thrown  wide  open  for  the  easy  escape  of  fugitives 
from  their  tyrannous  grasp ! !  Something  must  be  done 
to  avert  the  threatened  evil.  Mr.  Benton,  of  Missouri,  in 
1829,  broached  the  scheme  of  the  annexation  of  Texas, 
and  the  re-establishment  of  slavery  there.  He  urged 
this  as  obviously  necessary  :  first,  in  order  to  prevent  the 
easy  and  continual  escape  of  their  slaves  into  an  adjoining 
free  country,  the  government  of  which  had  persistently 
refused  to  return  the  fugitives  ;  second,  to  open  a  new  field 
for  slave  labor,  which  was  rapidly  exhausting  the  soil  of  the 
old  States,  and  a  new  market  for  the  slaves  of  those  States 
which,  no  longer  capable  of  producing  large  crops,  might 
still  be  sustained  in  population  and  political  power  by 
becoming  the  nurseries  of  slaves  for  the  immense  ter^ 
ritory,  to  be  obtained  from  Mexico  by  purchase  or  force  ; 
third,  by  adding  to  the  number  of  slave  States,  to  provide 
new  securities  for  the  continued  ascendency  of  the  slave 
holders'  influence  in  the  government  of  the  nation. 

This  last  reason  was  probably  the  most  momentous  in 
the  estimation  of  Southern  statesmen.  For  the  Texas, 
which  they  aimed  to  annex  to  our  country,  they  foresaw 
might  from  time  to  time  be  divided  and  subdivided  into 
seven  States  as  large  as  New  York,  or  into  forty-three 
States  as  large  as  Massachusetts.  Thus  might  the  major 
ity  of  the  United  States  Senate  be  kept  always  ready  to 
support  any  measure  favorable  to  the  interests  of  the 
slaveholding  aristocracy,  which  had  assumed  the  govern 
ment  of  our  Republic.  Mr.  Calhoun  openly  declared  that 
"  the  measure  of  annexation  is  calculated  and  designed  to 
uphold  the  institution  of  slavery,  extend  its  influence,  and 
secure  its  permanent  duration." 

The  devoted,  indefatigable,  self-sacrificing,  Benjamin 
Lundy,  was  living  in  Missouri  at  the  time  when  Mr. 


316  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

Benton  first  proposed  the  Texas  scheme,  and  at  once 
gave  him  battle,  so  far  as  he  was  permitted  to  do  it,  in 
the  newspapers  of  that  State.  Afterwards  on  removing 
to  Maryland  and  establishing  there  his  own  paper,  The 
Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation,  he  did  all  in  his 
power  to  alarm  the  country.  He  went  to  Texas  and, 
at  great  personal  hazard,  traversed  that  country  and 
gathered  a  large  amount  of  most  important  information, 
revealing  the  spirit  of  the  settlers  there  and  the  designs 
of  the  projectors  and  managers  of  the  scheme. 

He  did  not  labor  in  vain.  The  leading  National  Re 
publican  papers  in  the  free  States  seconded  his  efforts. 
Especially  my  good  friend  and  classmate  David  Lee 
Child,  Esq.,  as  early  as  1829,  when  editor  of  The  Massa 
chusetts  Journal,  emphatically  denounced  the  dismem 
berment  and  robbery  of  Mexico  for  the  protection  and 
perpetuation  of  slavery  in  the  United  States.  And  he 
manfully  contended  against  that  nefarious,  execrable  plot 
until  further  opposition  was  made  useless,  as  we  shall  see, 
by  the  perpetration  of  the  great  inquity  in  1845.  In 
1835  Mr.  Child  addressed  a  number  of  carefully  pre 
pared  letters  to  Mr.  Edward  S.  Abdy,  a  philanthropic 
English  gentleman,  hoping  thereby  to  awaken  the  atten 
tion  of  British  Abolitionists.  In  1836  he  wrote  nine  or 
ten  able  articles  on  the  impending  evil,  that  were  pub 
lished  in  a  Philadelphia  paper.  The  next  year  he  went 
to  France  and  England.  In  Paris  he  addressed  an  elab 
orate  memoir  to  the  "  Societe  pour  1' Abolition  d'Esela- 
vage,"  and  in  London  he  published  in  the  Eclectic  Review 
a  full  exposition  of  the  interest  which  the  British  nation 
ought  to  take  in  utterly  extinguishing  the  slave-trade, 
and  preventing  the  re-establishment  of  slavery  in  Texas, 
and  the  aggrandizement  of  the  unprincipled  slaveholding 
power  in  that  country,  larger  than  the  whole  of  France. 
No  two  persons  did  so  much  to  prevent  the  annexation 


THE  ANNEXATION   OF  TEXAS.  317 

of  Texas  as  did  Benjamin  Lundy  and  David  L.  Child. 
They  undoubtedly  furnished  the  Hon.  John  Q.  Adams 
with  much  of  the  information  and  some  of  the  weapons 
that  he  plied  with  so  much  vigor  on  the  floor  of  Con 
gress  ;  but,  alas  !  as  the  event  proved,  with  so  little  effect 
to  prevent  the  great  transgression  which  the  Southern 
statesmen  led  our  nation  to  commit.  At  first  the  indig 
nation  of  the  people  in  many  of  the  free  States  at  the 
proposed  extension  of  the  domain  of  slaveholders,  and 
the  confirmation  of  their  ascendency  in  the  government 
of  our  nation,  seemed  to  be  general,  deep,  and  fervent. 
In  1838  the  legislatures  of  Massachusetts,  Ohio,  and 
Rhode  Island,  with  great  unanimity,  passed  resolutions, 
earnestly  and  solemnly  protesting  against  the  annexation 
of  Texas  to  our  Union,  and  declaring  that  no  act  done, 
or  compact  made  for  that  purpose,  by  the  government 
of  the  United  States  would  be  binding  on  the  States  or 
the  people. 

For  a  while  it  seemed  as  if  the  villany  was  averted  ; 
but  it  was  started  again  in  1843,  and  from  that  time 
until  its  consummation  the  protests  of  the  above-named 
States  were  renewed  with  frequent  repetition  and,  if  pos 
sible,  in  still  more  emphatic  language.  No  party  within 
their  borders  ventured  to  take  the  side  of  the  slavehold 
ers.  Connecticut  and  New  Jersey  at  that  time  joined 
in  the  protest.  Massachusetts  of  course  took  the  lead. 
Meetings  of  the  people,  to  declare  their  opposition  to  the 
proposed  outrage  upon  the  Union,  were  held  in  many  of 
.  the  principal  towns  of  the  State.  At  length,  when  the 
resolutions  providing  for  the  annexation  were  pending  in 
both  Houses  of  Congress,  a  great  convention  of  her  citi 
zens  met  in  Faneuil  Hall,  to  make  known  their  displeas 
ure  in  a  still  more  impressive  tone  and  manner.  The 
call  to  the  meeting  was  signed  by  prominent  men  of  all 
parties.  It  invited  the  cities  and  towns  of  the  Common- 


318  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

wealth  to  send  as  many  delegates  to  the  Convention 
as  they  could  legally  send  representatives  to  the  Gen 
eral  Court.  This  took  place  in  January,  1845,  only 
three  months  before  my  removal  to  Syracuse.  I  was 
then  living  in  Lexington.  A  town-meeting  was  held 
there  to  respond  to  the  call  to  Faneuil  Hall,  by  the 
choice  of  two  delegates.  To  my  great  surprise  I  was 
chosen  one  of  the  two,  and  General  Chandler,  high 
sheriff  of  the  county,  was  the  other.  But  unutterable 
was  my  astonishment  when,  on  coming  into  the  Conven 
tion,  I  found  William  Lloyd  Garrison  seated  among  the 
members,  sent  thither  with  other  delegates  by  the  votes 
of  a  large  majority  of  the  Tenth  Ward  of  the  city  of 
Boston,  where  he  resided.  This  did,  indeed,  betoken  a 
marvellous  change  in  the  sentiments  and  feelings  of  the 
community.  He,  who  a  few  years  before  had  been  dragged 
through  the  streets  with  a  halter,  by  a  mob  of  "  gentle 
men  of  property  and  standing,"  clamoring  for  his.  im 
mediate  execution,  was  there  in  the  "  Cradle  of  Liberty," 
member  of  a  Convention  that  comprised  the  men  of 
Massachusetts  who  were  accustomed  to  represent,  on 
important  occasions,  the  intelligence,  the  patriotism,  and 
weight  of  character  of  the  Commonwealth. 

Mr.  Garrison  addressed  the  Convention,  and  was  lis 
tened  to  with  respectful  attention.  I  need  not  say  that 
he  spoke  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the  place  and  the  oc 
casion,  and  in  perfect  consistency  with  his  avowed  prin 
ciples.  The  chief  business  done  by  the  Convention  was 
the  issuing  of  an  elaborate,  carefully  prepared  Address 
to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  setting  forth  the 
reasons  why  Texas  should  not  be  annexed  to  our  Repub 
lic,  and  why  we  ought  not  to  submit  to  such  a  violation 
of  the  Constitution  of  our  Union,  and  such  an  outrage 
upon  the  territory  and  institutions  of  an  adjoining 
nation.  Mr.  Garrison  published  the  document  in  his 


THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS.        319 

Liberator  of  the  next  week  and  said,  "  Tho  Address  of 
the  Convention  was,  as  a  whole,  a  most  forcible  and  elo 
quent  document,  worthy  to  be  read  of  all  men,  and  to 
be  preserved  to  the  latest  posterity.  It  was  adopted  unan 
imously,  after  a  disclaimer  by  Samuel  J.  May  and  myself 
of  that  portion  of  it  which  seeks  to  vindicate  the  United 
States  Constitution  from  the  charge  of  guaranteeing  pro 
tection  to  slavery."  I  was  irresistibly  impelled  to  ask 
that  that  part  of  the  otherwise  admirable  Address  might 
be  omitted,  because  it  would  obliterate  the  most  mo 
mentous  lesson  taught  in  the  history  of  our  nation,  — 
namely,  that  the  reluctant,  indirect,  inferential  consent 
given  by  the  framers  of  our  Republic  to  the  continuance 
of  slavery  in  the  land  —  not  any  deliberate  explicit  guar 
anty — had  countenanced  and  sustained  the  friends  of 
that  "  System  of  Iniquity,"  from  generation  to  genera 
tion,  in  violating  the  inalienable  rights  of  millions  of  our 
fellow-beings,  and  had  brought  upon  us,  who  are  opposed 
to  that  system,  the  evils  of  political  discord,  national 
disgrace,  and  the  fear  of  national  disruption  and  ruin. 
I  urged  the  Convention  to  acknowledge  distinctly  that, 
"under  the  commonly  received  interpretation  of  the 
Constitution,  we  have  hitherto  been  giving  our  counte 
nance  and  support  to  the  slaveholders  in  their  outrages 
upon  humanity,  the  fundamental  rights  of  man,  —  an 
iniquity  of  which  we  will  no  longer  be  guilty.  We  have 
been  roused  from  our  insensibility  to  the  wrongs  we  have 
wickedly  consented  should  be  inflicted  upon  others  — • 
"the  least  of  the  brethren" — by  the  discovery  of  the  evils 
we  have  thereby  brought  upon  ourselves,  and  the  ruin 
that  awaits  our  nation  if  we  do  not  stay  the  iniquity 
where  it  is,  and  commence  at  once  the  work  "  meet  for 
the  repentance  "  that  alone  can  save  us, —  the  extermina 
tion  of  slavery  from  our  borders."  "  Let  this  Conven 
tion  declare,  that  we  certainly  will  not  consent  to  the  ex- 


320  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

tension  of  slavery, —  no,  not  an  inch.  And  if  they  urge 
to  its  consummation  the  annexation  of  Texas,  in  the  way 
they  propose,  they  will,  by  so  doing,  trample  the  Consti 
tution  under  "foot,  set  at  naught  some  of  its  most  impor 
tant  provisions,  grossly  violate  the  compact  of  our  United 
States,  and  therefore  absolve  us  from  all  obligations  to 
respect  it  or  live  under  it  any  longer." 

Mr.  Garrison  urged  that  the  Address  should  be  fur 
ther  amended  by  adding  that,  if  our  protest  and  remon 
strance  shall  be  disregarded,  and  Texas  be  annexed,  then 
shall  the  Committee  of  the  Convention  call  another  at 
the  same  place  ;  that  then  and  here  Massachusetts  shall 
declare  the  union  of  these  States  dissolved,  and  invite  all 
the  States,  that  may  be  disposed,  to  reunite  with  her  as 
a  Republic  based  truly  upon  the  grand  principles  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  Although  his  motion  was 
not  carried  by  the  Convention,  it  was  received  with  great 
favor  by  a  large  portion  of  the  members  and  other  audi 
tors  ;  and  he  sat  down  amidst  the  most  hearty  bursts 
of  applause. 

It  seemed  as  if  the  opposition  of  Massachusetts  and 
other  States  to  annexation  was  too  strong,  and  the  rea 
sons  urged  against  it  were  too  weighty,  to  be  disregarded 
by  the  legislators,  the  guardians  of  the  nation.  The 
contest  waxed  and  waned  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
year  1845.  A  petition  signed  by  fifty  thousand  persons 
was  sent  to  Congress  at  its  opening  in  December  of  that 
year.  But  several  prominent  Whig  members  of  Congress 
from  the  Southern  States  were  found,  in  the  end,  to  care 
more  for  the  perpetuation  of  slavery  than  for  their  party 
or  their  principles.  And  certain  members  from  the  free 
States  (one  even  from  Massachusetts)  were  plied  by  con 
siderations  and  alarmed  by  threats,  which  the  Southern 
statesmen  knew  so  well  how  to  wield,  until  they  gave 
way,  and  suffered  the  nefarious,  the  abominable,  uncon- 


THE  ABOLITIONISTS  IN   CENTRAL  NEW  YORK.   321 

stitutional,  disastrous  deed  to  be  done,  —  Texas  to  be 
annexed. 

Late  in  the  year  1845,  when  some  of  the  hitherto  op- 
posers  were  evidently  about  to  yield,  Mr.  D.  L.  Child, 
as  a  final  effort  against  the  consummation  of  the  great 
iniquity,  prepared  an  admirable  article  for  the  New  York 
Tribune,  under  the  title,  —  "Taking  Naboth's  Vineyard." 
But  alas  !  "  considerations  "  had  affected  Mr.  Greeley's 
mind  also,  and  he  refused  to  publish  it.  Mr.  Child 
then  hired  him  to  publish  the  article  in  a  supplement 
to  his  paper,  and  paid  him  sixty  dollars  for  the  service. 
But  instead  of  treating  it  as  a  supplement  is  wont  to 
be  treated,  instead  of  distributing  it  coextensively  with 
the  principal  issue,  my  friend  tells  me  that  Mr.  Greeley, 
having  supplied  the  members  of  the  two  Houses  of  Con 
gress  each  with  a  copy,  sent  the  residue  of  the  edition 
to  him.  So  strangely  have  political  considerations,  par 
ticularly  those  suggested  by  slaveholding  statesmen, 
influenced  the  politicians  of  the  North. 

Other  besides  political  considerations  were  no  doubt 
plied  to  affect  the  votes  of  the  representatives  of  the 
free  States.  It  was  reported  at  the  time  that  no  less 
than  forty  of  them  had  their  pockets  stuffed  with  Texas 
scrip,  which  would  become  very  valuable  if  annexation 
should  be  effected. 


ABOLITIONISTS  IN  CENTRAL  NEW  YORK.— 
GERRIT   SMITH. 

In  April,  1845,  I  came  to  reside  in  Syracuse.  Having 
visited  the  place  twice  before,  I  was  pretty  well  ac 
quainted  with  the  characters  of  the  people  with  whom  I 
should  be  associated,  and  the  rapidly  growing  importance 
of  the  town,  owing  to  its  central  position  and  its  staple 
product.  During  each  of  my  visits  I  had  delivered  anti- 
14*  u 


322  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

slavery  lectures  to  good  audiences,  and  found  quite  a 
number  of  individuals  here  who  had  accepted  the  doc 
trines  of  the  Immediate  Abolitionists.  v  Mr.  Garrison, 
Gerrit  Smith,  Mr.  Douglass,  and  others,  had  lectured  in 
Syracuse  several  times,  and,  though  at  first  insulted  and 
repulsed,  they  had  convinced  so  many  people  of  the 
justice  of  their  demands  for  the  enslaved,  and  of  the 
disastrous  influence  of  the  "  peculiar  institution  "  of  our 
Southern  States,  that  the  community  had  come  to  re 
spect  somewhat  the  right  of  any  who  pleased  to  hold 
autislavery  meetings.;  The  minister  and  many  of  the 
members  of  the  Orthodox  Congregational  Church,  as 
well  as  the  Unitarian,  were  decided  Abolitionists,  and 
several  members  of  the  Presbyterian,  Methodist,  and 
Baptist  churches  openly  favored  the  great  reform. 

On  the  first  of  the  following  August,  at  the  invitation 
of  a  large  number  of  the  citizens,  I  delivered  an  address 
on  British  West  India  Emancipation  from  the  pulpit  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  and  it  was  published  by 
the  request  of  a  large  number  of  the  auditors,  —  half 
of  them  members  of  one  or  another  of  the  orthodox 
sects. 

On  the  10th  of  the  next  month  a  large  meeting  was 
held  in  the  Congregational  Church  to  uphold  the  freedom 
of  the  press,  and  to  protest  against  the  alanning  assault 
that  had  been  made  upon  that  palladium  of  our  liberties 
in  Kentucky,  by  the  violent  suppression  of  The  True 
American,  —  a  paper  established  and  edited  by  Hon. 
Cassius  M.  Clay,  to  urge  upon  his  fellow-citizens  the  self- 
evident  truths  of  our  Declaration  of  Independence,  and 
their  application  to  the  colored  population  of  that  State. 
Our  meeting  was  officered  by  some  of  the  most  promi 
nent  and  highly  respected  citizens  of  Syracuse.  And 
after  several  excellent  speeches,  a  series  of  very  per 
tinent,  explicit,  emphatic  antislavery  resolutions  was 


GERRIT   SMITH.  323 

unanimously  adopted.  Thus  was  my  great  regret  at 
being  removed  so  far  from  the  New  England  Abolition 
ists  assuaged  by  the  sympathy  and  co-operation  of  many 
of  my  new  neighbors  and  fellow-citizens. 

X3n  another  account  I  had  reason  to  rejoice  in  my  re 
moval  to  this  place.  Here  I  found  myself  within  a  few 
miles  of  the  residence  of  Gerrit  Smith,  and  very  soon 
was  brought  into  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  that 
pre-eminent  philanthropist.  Here  I  must  indulge  my 
self  in  telling  some  of  the  much  that  I  have  known  of 
the  benefactions  of  this  magnificent  giver. 

If  I  have  been  correctly  informed,  Mr.  Smith  obtained 
by  inheritance  from  his  father  and  by  purchase  from  his 
fellow-heirs  (besides  much  other  property)  seven  hundred 
andjifty  thousand  acres  of  land  lying  in  various  parts  of 
New  York  and  of  several  other  States.  Erelong  he  be 
came  deeply  impressed  by  a  sense  of  his  responsibility 
to  God  for  the  right  use  of  such  an  immense  portion  of 
the  earth's  surface,  —  the  common  heritage  of  man.  He 
could  not  believe  that  it  had  been  given  him  merely  for 
his  own  gratification  or  aggrandizement.  He  received  it 
as  a  trust  committed  to  him  for  the  benefit  of  others. 
He  felt  as  a  steward,  who  would  have  to  give  an  account 
of  the  estate  intrusted  to  his  care.  He  contrasted  his 
condition  with  that  of  others,  —  he  the  possessor  of  an 
amount  of  land  which  no  one  man  could  occupy  and  im 
prove,  —  millions  of  his  fellow-men,  inhabitants  of  the 
same  country,  without  a  rood  that  they  could  call  their 
own  and  fix  upon  it  the  humblest  home.  He  profoundly 
pitied  the  landless,  and  earnestly  set  himself  to  consider 
the  best  way  in  which  to  bestow  portions  of  his  estate 
upon  those  who  needed  them  most. 

The  father  of  Mr.  Smith,  like  most  other  gentlemen 
of  his  day  in  New  York,  was  a  slaveholder  until  many 
years  after  the  Revolution.  Gerrit  was  accustomed  to 


324  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

slavery  through  his  childhood,  and  until  he  was  old 
enough  to  judge  for  himself  of  its  essential  and  terrible 
iniquity.  He  has  repeatedly  assured  me  that,  although 
the  bondage  of  his  father's  negroes  was  of  the  mildest 
type,  he  early  saw  that  slaveholding  was  egregiously 
wrong,  and  sympathized  deeply  with  the  enslaved.  He 
rejoiced  when  the  law  of  the  State,  in  1827,  prohibited 
utterly  its  continuance,  and  immediately  felt  that  all  that 
could  be  should  be  done  to  repair  the  injuries  it  had  in 
flicted  upon  those  who  had  been  subjected  to  it.  He 
longed  for  the  entire,  immediate  abolition  of  the  great 
iniquity  throughout  the  land.  He  early  joined  the  Col 
onization  Society,  believing  that  the  tendency  of  the 
plan,  as  well  as  the  intention  of  many  of  its  Southern 
patrons,  was  to  effect  the  subversion  and  overthrow  of 
that  gigantic  system  of  wickedness.  Notwithstanding 
the  exposures  of  its  duplicity  made  by  Mr.  Garrison  and 
Judge  William  Jay,  he  retained  his  confidence  in  the 
Colonization  Society,  and  contributed  generously  to  its 
funds,  until  near  the  close  of  the  year  1835.  At  that 
time,  as  I  have  stated  heretofore,  Mr.  Smith  became 
fully  convinced  that  the  Society  was  opposed  to  the 
emancipation  of  our  enslaved  countrymen,  unless  fol 
lowed  by  their  expatriation.  Thereupon  he  paid  three 
thousand  dollars,  the  balance  due  on  his  subscription  to 
its  funds,  and  withdrew  forever  from  the  Colonization 
Society,  to  which  he  had  contributed  at  least  ten  thousand 
dollars. 

This  discovery  that  even  these  professed  friends  of 
our  colored  people,  with  whom  he  had  been  co-operat 
ing,  were  planning  to  get  them  out  of  the  country,  and 
proposed  to  make  their  removal  the  condition  of  their 
release  from  slavery,  roused  Mr.  Smith  to  new  efforts  and 
still  more  generous  contributions  of  money  for  their  relief. 
He  not  only  joined  the  American  and  the  New  York  An- 


GERRIT   SMITH.  325 

tislavery  Societies,  and  gave  very  largely  to  the  funds  of 
c.;loli, — in  all  not  less  tlumjifty  thousand  dollars, — but, 
he  set  about  endeavoring  to  get  as  many  free  colored 
men  as  possible  settled  upon  lands  and  in  homes  of  their 
own.  Before  the  middle  of  1847  he  had  given  an  aver 
age  of  forty  acres  apiece  to  three  thousand  colored  men, 
in  all  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  acres.  He  did 
me  the  honor  to  appoint  me  one  of  the  almoners  of  this 
bounty,  so  I  am  not  left  merely  to  conjecture  how  much 
time  and  caution  were  put  in  requisition  to  insure  as  far 
as  practicable  the  judicious  bestowment  of  these  parcels 
of  land.  The  only  conditions  prescribed  by  the  donor 
were,  that  the  receivers  of  his  acres  should  be  known  to 
be  landless,  strictly  temperate  and  honest  men. 

Mr.  Smith  exerted  himself  in  various  ways  to  secure 
the  blessings  of  education  to  those  of  the  proscribed  race 
who  were  at  liberty  to  receive  them.  He  established 
and  for  a  number  of  years  maintained  a  school  in  Peter- 
boro',  to  which  colored  people  came  from  far  and  near. 
He  was  an  early  and  very  liberal  patron  of  Oneida  Insti 
tute,  the  doors  of  which  were  ever  open,  without  any 
respect  to  complexion  or  race.  He  gave  to  that  school 
several  thousand  dollars,  and  upwards  of  three  thou 
sand  acres  in  Vermont,  besides  land  contracts  upon  which 
considerable  sums  were  still  due. 

Mr.  Smith  did  much  more  for  Oberlin  College,  because 
of  its  hospitality  to  colored  pupils  and  those  of  both 
sexes  as  well  as  all  complexions.  He  gave  to  it  outright 
between  five  and  six  thousand  dollars,  and  twenty  thou 
sand  acres  of  land  in  Virginia,  from  the  sales  of  which 
the  college  must  have  derived  more  than  fifty  thousand 
dollars. 

Moreover,  the  unsuccessful  attempt  to  establish  and 
maintain  New  York  Central  College  at  McGrawville, 
where  colored  and  white  young  men  and  women  were 


326  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

well  instructed  together  for  a  few  years,  cost  Mr.  Smith 
four  or  five  thousand  dollars. 

But  I  cannot  leave  my  readers  to  infer  from  my 
silence  that  his  benefactions  were  confined  wholly  or 
mainly  to  colored  persons.  His  gifts  to  other  needy 
ones,  and  to  institutions  for  their  benefit,  were  more  nu 
merous  and  larger  than  he  himself  has  been  careful  to 
record.  Many  of  them  have  come  to  my  knowledge, 
and  I  will  so  far  depart  from  the  main  object  of  my 
book  as  to  mention  two. 

In  1850  Mr.  Smith  called  upon  me  and  other  friends 
to  assist  him  in  selecting  five  hundred  poor  white  men, 
strictly  temperate  and  honest,  to  each  of  whom  he  would 
give  forty  acres.  And  having  learnt  that  some  of  his 
colored  beneficiaries  had  been  unable  to  raise  means 
enough  to  remove  with  their  families  to  the  lands  he 
had  given  them,  he  added  ten  dollars  apiece  to  the  por 
tions  that  he  gave  to  the  white  men. 

Not  satisfied  with  these  bestowments,  yearning  over 
the  poverty  of  the  many  who  had  little  or  nothing  in  a 
world  where  he  had  so  much,  and  having  given  fifty  dol 
lars  to  each  of  a  hundred  and  forty  poor,  worthy  women, 
whose  wants  had  been  brought  to  his  consideration,  he 
again  requested  me  and  others  to  find  out  in  our  neigh 
borhoods  five  hundred  worthy  widowed  or  single  poor 
white  women,  to  whom  such  a  donation  would  be  espe 
cially  helpful,  that  he  might  have  the  pleasure  of  bestow 
ing  upon  them  also  fifty  dollars  apiece.  I  need  not  say 
that  these  unasked,  unexpected  gifts  carried  great  relief 
and  joy  wherever  they  were  sent. 

But  such  labors  of  love,  although  so  grateful  to  his 
benevolent  heart,  were  labors.  Then  Mr.  Smith's  sym 
pathy  with  his  suffering  fellow-beings,  whom  he  could 
not  immediately  relieve,  and  his  lively  interest  and 
hearty  co-operation  in  all  moral  and  social  reforms,  were 


GERRIT   SMITH.  327 

unavoidably  wearing.  As  might  have  been  expected, 
his  health  was  impaired  and  at  length  gave  away.  In 
the  latter  part  of  1858  he  had  a  serious  attack  of  ty 
phoid  fever,  which  was  followed  by  months  of  mental 
prostration.  And  after  his  recovery  he  was  obliged  for 
a  long  while  to  be  sparing  of  himself,  especially  avoiding 
exciting  scenes  and  subjects. 

This  incident  in  the  life  of  my  noble  friend  came  up 
on  him  when  he  was  planning  a  magnificent  enterprise 
for  the  public  good.  His  enlightened  benevolence  prompt 
ed  him  to  devise  an  institution  for  the  highest  education 
of  youths  of  both  sexes,  and  all  complexions  and  races. 
It  was  to  be  a  university  based  upon  the  most  advanced 
principles  of  intellectual  and  moral  culture.  He  dis 
closed  his  intention  to  his  intimate  friend  and  legal  ad 
viser,  the  late  Hon.  Timothy  Jenkins,  of  Oneida,  and  to 
myself,  informing  us  that  he  meant  to  appropriate  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars  to  its  accomplishment.  At 
his  request  I  made  known  his  purpose  to  the  late  Hon. 
Horace  Mann,  whom  we  regarded  as  the  best  adapted  to 
develop  the  plan  and  preside  over  the  execution  of  it, 
and  who  we  thought  would  like  to  take  charge  of  an  ed 
ucational  institution  that  might  from  the  beginning  be 
ordered  so  much  in  accordance  with  his  own  enlarged 
ideas ;  but  he  promptly  declined  the  invitation,  being, 
as  he  said,  too  far  committed  to  Antioch  College. 

Mr.  Mann's  refusal  deferred  the  undertaking,  and  no 
other  one,  who  could  be  had,  appearing  to  Mr.  Smith  to 
be  just  the  person  to  whose  conduct  he  should  be  will 
ing  to  commit  the  university,  it  was  postponed  until 
his  alarming  sickness  and  protracted  debility,  and  the 
threatening  aspect  of  our  national  affairs,  led  him  to  dis 
miss  the  project  altogether.  So  he  distributed  among 
his  nephews  and  nieces  the  larger  part  of  the  money  he 
had  intended  to  expend  as  I  have  stated  above. 


328  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

Shortly  after,  our  awful  civil  war  broke  out.  Of  this 
he  could  not  be  a  silent  or  inactive  spectator.  He  freely 
gave  his  money,  his  influence,  himself,  to  the  cause  of  his 
country  in  every  way  that  a  private  citizen  of  infirm 
health  could.  He  not  only  gave  many  thousand  dollars 
to  promote  the  enlistment  of  white  soldiers  in  his  town 
and  county,  but  he  offered  to  equip  a  whole  regiment  of 
colored  men,  if  the  governor  of  the  State  would  put  one 
in  commission.  But,  alas  !  the  chief  magistrate  of  New 
York  was  not  another  John  A.  Andrew. 

Mr.  Smith  contributed  largely  to  the  funds  of  the 
Sanitary  Commission,  and  not  a  little  to  the  Christian 
Commission  ;  and  he  kindly  cared  for  many  families 
at  home  that  had  been  called  to  part  with  fathers,  hus 
bands,  or  sons,  on  whom  they  were  dependent. 

So  soon  as  the  grand  project  of  establishing  schools  for 
the  freedmen  was  started,  Mr.  Smith  entered  into  it  with 
his  wonted  zeal  and  generosity.  I  have  heard  often  of  his 
donations  larger  or  smaller,  and  have  not  a  doubt  that 
he  has  contributed  as  much  as  any  other  person  in  our 
country. 

I  need  not  say  that  it  has  indeed  been  a  great  benefit, 
as  well  as  joy,  to  me  to  have  been  brought  to  know  so 
intimately,  and  to  co-operate  so  much  as  I  have  done, 
for  more  than  twenty  years,  with  such  a  philanthropist 
as  Gerrit  Smith. 

•  Not  alone  by  his  bountiful  gifts  of  land  and  money 
has  he  mightily  helped  the  cause  of  our  cruelly  oppressed 
and  despised  countrymen.  He  has  spoken  often,  and 
written  abundantly  in  their  behalf,  —  always  faithfully, 
sometimes  with  exceeding  power.  I  am  sure  there  is 
not  an  individual  in  Central  New  York,  I  doubt  if  there 
be  one  in  our  whole  country,  unless  he  has  been  an  agent 
or  appointed  lecturer  of  some  Antislavery  Society,  who 
has  attended  so  many  antislavery  meetings,  has  made  so 


CONDUCT  OF  THE  CLERGY  AND  CHURCHES.  320 

many  antislavery  speeches,  and  written  and  published  so 
many  antislavery  letters,  as  has  our  honored  and  beloved 
brother  of  Peterboro',  always  excepting,  of  course,  those 
devotees,  Mr.  Garrison  and  Mr.  Phillips.  I  shall  have 
occasion  hereafter  to  tell  of  one  or  more  of  his  timely 
and  most  effective  speeches. 

Mr.  Smith  has  entertained  and  freely  expressed  some 
opinions  that  have  been  peculiar  to  himself,  and  has  done 
some  things  that  have  appeared  eccentric ;  but  I  believe 
that  he  has  never  consciously  done  or  said  anything  un 
friendly  to  an  oppressed  or  despised  fellow-being,  white  or 
black. 


CONDUCT  OF  THE  CLERGY  AND  CHURCHES. 

The  most  serious  obstacle  to  the  progress  of  the  anti- 
slavery  cause  was  the  conduct  of  the  clergy  and  churches 
in  our  country.  Perhaps  it  would  be  more  proper  to 
say  the  churches  and  the  clergy,  for  it  was  only  too  obvious 
that,  in  the  wrong  course  which  they  took,  the  shepherds 
were  driven  by  the  sheep.  The  influential  members  of 
the  churches, —  "  the  gentlemen  of  property  and  stand 
ing," —  still  more  the  politicians,  who  "of  course  un 
derstood  better  than  ministers  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  guaranties  that  were  given  to 
slaveholders  by  the  framers  of  our  Union," — these  gentle 
men,  too  important  to  be  alienated,  were  permitted  to 
direct  the  action  of  the  churches,  and  the  preaching  of 
their  pastors  on  this  "  delicate  question,"  "  this  exciting 
topic."  Consequently  the  histories  of  the  several  religious 
denominations  in  our  country  (with  very  small  exceptions) 
evince,  from  the  time  of  our  Revolution,  a  continual 
decline  of  respect  for  the  rights  of  colored  persons,  and 
of  disapproval  of  their  enslavement.  In  the  early  days 
of  our  Republic — until  after  1808  —  all  the  religious 


330  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

sects  in  the  land,  I  believe,  gave  more  or  less  emphat 
ic  testimonies  against  enslaving  fellow-men,  especially 
against  the  African  slave-trade.  But  after  that  accursed 
traffic  was  nominally  abolished,  the  zeal  of  its  opponents 
subsided  (not  very  slowly)  to  acquiescence  in  the  condition 
of  those  who  had  long  been  enslaved  and  their  descend 
ants.  "They  are  used  to  it";  "they  seem  happy- 
enough  " ;  "  unconscious  of  their  degradation  "  ;  it  was 
said.  Then  "  the  labor  of  slaves  is  indispensable  to  their 
owners,  especially  on  the  rich,  virgin  soils  of  the  South 
ern  States."  "  It  is  sad,"  said  the  semi-apologists,  "  but 
so  it  is.  The  condition  of  laboring  people  everywhere  is 
hard,  and  we  are  by  no  means  sure  that  the  condition  of 
the  slaves  is  worse,  if  so  bad  as,  that  of  many  laborers 
elsewhere  who  are  nominally  free."  "  Many  masters,"  it 
was  added,  "  are  very  kind  to  their  slaves ;  feed  them  and 
clothe  them  well,  and  never  overwork  them,  unless  it  is 
absolutely  necessary."  But  the  consciences  of  the  doubt 
ing  were  quieted  more  than  all  by  the  plea  that  "  in  one 
respect  certainly  the  condition  of  the  enslaved  Africans 
has  been  immensely  improved  by  their  transportation  to 
our  country.  Here  they  are  introduced  to  the  knowledge 
of  '  the  way  of  salvation ' ;  here  many  of  them  become 
Christians.  As  Joseph  through  his  bondage  in  Egypt 
was  led  to  the  highest  position  in  that  empire,  next  only 
to  the  king,  so  these  poor,  benighted  heathen,  by  being 
brought  in  slavery  to  our  land,  may  be  led  to  become 
children  of  the  King  of  kings,  so  wonderful  are  the  ways 
of  Divine  Providence."  By  these  and  similar  palliations 
and  apologies,  the  people  of  almost  every  religious  sect 
at  the  South,  and  their  Methodist  or  Baptist  or  Presby 
terian  or  Episcopalian  brethren  at  the  North,  were  led 
to  overlook  the  essential  evil,  the  tremendous  wrong  of 
slavery,  and  to  hope  and  trust  that  God  would,  in  due 
time,  by  his  inscrutable  method,  bring  some  inestimable 
good  out  of  this  great  evil. 


CONDUCT  OF  THE  CLERGY  AND  CHURCHES.  331 

Accordingly,  we  find,  on  turning  to  the  doings  of  the 
great  ecclesiastical  bodies  of  our  country,  that  they  have 
descended  from  their  very  distinct  protests  against  the 
enslavement  of  men,  in  1780,  1789,  1794,  &c.,  to  palli 
ations  of  the  "  sum  .of  all  villanies,"  as  Wesley  called  it, 
—  and  apologies  for  it,  and  justifications  of  it,  and  ex 
plicit,  biblical  defences  of  it,  until  at  length — after  Mr. 
Garrison  and  his  co-laborers  arose,  demanding  for  the 
slaves  their  inalienable  right  to  liberty  —  the  churches 
and  ministers  of  all  denominations  (excepting  the  Freewill 
Baptists  and  Scotch  Covenanters)  gathered  about  the 
"  Peculiar  Institution  "  for  \i&  protection  ;  and  vehemently 
denounced  as  incendiaries,  disunionists,  infidels,  all  those 
who  insisted  upon  its  abolition.* 

This,  I  repeat,  was  the  most  serious  obstacle  to  the 
progress  of  our  antislavery  reform.  In  1830,  and  for 
several  years  afterwards,  the  influence  of  the  clergy  and 
the  churches  was  paramount  in  our  Northern,  if  not  in  the 
Southern  communities ;  certainly  it  was  second  only  to 
the  love  of  money.  The  people  generally,  then,  were 
wont  to  take  for  granted  that  what  the  ministers  and 
church-members  approved  must  be  morally  right,  and 
what  they  so  vehemently  denounced  must  be  morally 
wrong.  Accordingly,  the  most  violent  conflicts  we  had, 
and  the  most  outrageous  mobs  we  encountered,  were  led 
on  or  instigated  by  persons  professing  to  be  religious. 

If  the  clergy  and  churches  have  less  influence  over  the 
people  now  than  they  had  forty  years  ago,  it  must  be  in 
a  great  measure  because  the  people  find  that  they  were 
wofully  deceived  by  them  as  to  the  character  of  slavery, 
and  misled  to  oppose  its  abolition,  until  the  slaveholders, 
encouraged  by  their  Northern  abettors,  dared  to  attempt 
the  dissolution  of  our  Union,  and  so  brought  on  our  late 

*  See  "  The  American  Churches  the  Bulwarks  of  American  Slavery," 
by  J.  G.  Birney,  '•  Slavery  and  Antislavery,"  by  W.  Goodell,  and 
"The  Church  and  Slavery,"  by  Rev.  Albert  Barnes. 


332  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

civil  war,  in  which  hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  people 
were  killed,  and  an  immense  debt  imposed  upon  this  and 
succeeding  generations. 

In  justice,  however,  to  the  professing  Christians  of  our 
country,  it  should  be  recorded  that  very  much  the  larger 
portions  of  our  antislavery  host  were  recruited  from 
the  churches  of  all  denominations,  though  some  persons 
who  made  no  pretensions  to  a  religious  character  rendered 
us  signal  services.  It  ought  also  to  be  stated  that 
more  of  the  antislavery  lecturers,  agents,  and  devoted 
laborers  had  been  of  the  ministerial  profession  than  of  any 
other  of  the  callings  of  men,  in  proportion  to  the  num 
bers  of  each.  Still,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  most 
formidable  opposition  we  had  to  contend  against  was 
that  which  was  made  by  the  ministers  and  churches  and 
ecclesiastical  authorities.  When  the  true  history  of  the 
antislavery  conflict  shall  be  fully  written,  and  the  say 
ings  and  doings  of  preachers,  theological  professors, 
editors  of  religious  periodicals,  and  of  Presbyteries,  As 
sociations,  Conferences,  and  General  Assemblies,  shall  be 
spread  before  the  people  in  the  light  of  our  enlarged 
liberty,  no  one  will  fail  to  see  that,  practically,  the  worst 
enemies  of  truth,  righteousness,  and  humanity  were  of 
those  who  professed  to  be  the  friends  and  followers  of 
Christ.  Had  they  been  generally  faithful  and  fearless 
in  behalf  of  the  oppressed,  no  other  opponents  would 
have  dared  to  withstand  the  just  demand  for  their  imme 
diate  emancipation. 

Mr.  Garrison,  who  was  and  is  by  nature  and  educa 
tion  an  unfeignedly  religious  man,  felt  that  he  ought  to 
look  first  to  the  clergy  and  the  professing  Christians  for 
sympathy,  and  should  confidently  expect  their  co-opera 
tion.  Indeed,  he  knew  that  if  they  would  heartily  es 
pouse  the  cause  of  our  enslaved  countrymen,  he  might, 
without  unfaithfulness  to  them,  retire  to  some  printing- 


UNITARIAN   AND  UNIVERSALIST   CHURCHES.      333 

office,  and  get  his  living  as  he  had  been  trained  to  do. 
His  disappointment  and  astonishment  were  unspeakable 
when  he  found  how  blind  and  deaf  and  dumb  the 
preachers  of  the  Gospel  were  in  view  of  the  unparal 
leled  iniquity  of  our  nation,  and  the  inestimable  wrongs 
that  were  allowed  to  be  inflicted  upon  millions  of  the 
people.  It  was  as  painful  to  him  and  his  associates  as 
it  was  necessary,  to  expose  to  the  people  the  infidelity 
of  their  religious  teachers  and  guides ;  to  show  them 
that,  not  only  had  the  statesmen  and  politicians  of  our 
country  become  fearfully  corrupted  by  consenting  with 
slaveholders,  but  also  the  bishops,  priests,  ministers  of 
religion.  All,  with  few  exceptions,  had  lost  faith  in  the 
true  and  the  right,  and  in  the  God  of  truth  and  righteous 
ness.  They  were  afraid  to  obey  the  Divine  Law,  and 
bowed  rather  to  the  commandments  of  men.  They  re 
spected  a  compromise  more  than  a  principle,  and  trusted 
to  what  seemed  politic  rather  than  to  that  which  was 
self-evidently  right.  "  The  whole  head  of  our  nation  was 
sick,  and  the  whole  heart  was  faint.  From  the  sole  of 
the  foot,  even  unto  the  head,  there  seemed  to  be  no 
soundness  in  it."  "  Except  the  Lord  of  hosts  had  left 
unto  us  a  very  small  remnant,  we  should  have  been  as 
Sodom ;  we  should  have  been  like  unto  Gomorrah." 

UNITARIAN  AND    UNIVERSALIST    MINISTERS   AND 
CHURCHES. 

It  must  have  been  observed  by  my  readers  that,  in 
speaking  above  of  the  sympathy  and  co-operation  of  the 
Northern  ministers  and  churches  with  their  slaveholding 
brethren  in  the  Southern  States,  I  did  not  name  Univer- 
salists  and  Unitarians  among  the  guilty  sects.  This  was 
because  I  reserved  them  for  a  separate,  and  the  Unitari 
ans  for  a  more  particular  notice.  Of  the  course  pursued 


334  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

by  the  Universalists  I  have  known  but  little.  There  are 
very  few  churches  of  their  denomination  in  any  of  the 
slaveholding  States  ;  in  most  of  them,  I  believe,  not  one. 
They  claimed  the  Rev.  Theodore  Clapp,  of  New  Orleans, 
a  preacher  of  distinguished  ability,  and  in  some  respects 
a  very  estimable  gentleman,  but  who  was  one  of  the 
most  unblushing  advocates  of  slavery  in  the  country. 
In  a  sermon  preached  at  New  Orleans,  April  15,  1838, 
he  said  :  "  The  venerable  patriarchs  Abraham,  Isaac, 
Jacob,  and  others  were  all  slaveholders.  In  all  proba 
bility  each  possessed  a  greater  number  of  bondmen  and 
bondwomen  than  any  planter  now  living  in  Louisiana  or 
Mississippi."  "  The  same  God  who  gave  Abraham  sun 
shine,  air,  rain,  earth,  flocks,  herds,  silver,  and  gold 
blessed  him  with  a  donative  of  slaves.  Here  we  see  God 
dealing  in  slaves,  giving  them  to  his  favorite  child,  —  a 
man  of  superlative  worth,  and  as  a  reward  for  his  emi 
nent  goodness."  These  extracts  are  not  an  exaggerated 
specimen  of  the  whole  discourse.  A  few  years  after 
wards,  it  was  rumored  that  Mr.  Clapp  had  essentially 
modified  his  opinions  as  above  expressed.  This  rumor 
brought  out  an  explanation  in  The  New  Orleans  Pica 
yune  (probably  from  himself),  to  the  effect  that,  "  Chris 
tian  philanthropy  does  not  require  the  immediate  eman 
cipation  of  slaves."  "  Whilst  one  lives  in  a  slave  State, 
he  is  bound  by  Christianity  to  submit  to  its  laws  touch 
ing  slavery."  "  Christianity  does  not  propose  to  release 
the  obligations  of  slaves  to  their  masters."  I  am  not 
informed  that  his  Universalist  brethren  at  the  North 
ever  passed  any  censure  upon  him  for  such  misrepresen 
tations  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  and  of  the  duty  of  men 
to  their  oppressed  fellow-beings. 


UNITARIANS.  335 


UNITARIANS. 

In  commencing  the  discreditable  account  I  must  give 
of  the  proslavery  conduct  of  the  Unitarian  denomination, 
I  may  as  well  record  the  fact,  of  which  the  mention  of 
Rev.  Theodore  Clapp  reminds  me.  Notwithstanding  the 
utterance  of  such  sentiments  as  I  have  just  now  quoted, 
none  of  which  had  been  retracted  or  apologized  for,  a 
few  years  afterwards  Mr.  Clapp  was  specially  invited  by 
a  committee  of  Boston  Unitarians  to  attend  their  .relig 
ious  anniversaries;  and  his  letter  in  reply  was  read  in 
their  principal  meeting,  where,  perhaps,  a  thousand  per 
sons  were  present,  including  a  large  number  of  ministers 
and  prominent  laymen,  without  any  remonstrance  or  re 
buke  to  those  who  had  invited  him. 

But  before  I  procceed  further  with  the  disagreeable 
narrative,  let  me  state,  to  the  honor  of  the  sect,  that 
though  a  very  small  one  in  comparison  with  those  called 
Orthodox  (having  at  this  day  not  more  than  three  hun 
dred  and  sixty  ministers,  and  in  1853  only  two  hundred 
and  seven),  we  Unitarians  have  given  to  the  antislavery 
cause  more  preachers,  writers,  lecturers,  agents,  poets, 
than  any  other  denomination  in  proportion  to  our  num 
bers,  if  not  more  without  that  comparison.  Of  those 
Unitarian  ministers  no  longer  on  earth,  we  hold  in  most 
grateful  remembrance  Dr.  N.  Worcester,  Dr.  Follen, 
Dr.  Channing,  Dr.  S.  Willard,  Theodore  Parker,  John 
Pierpont,  Dr.  H.  Ware,  Jr.,  and  A.  H.  Conant.  Others, 
though  less  outspoken,  were  always  explicitly  on  the 
side  of  the  oppressed,  —  Dr.  Lowell,  Dr.  C.  Francis,  Dr. 
E.  B.  Hall,  G.  F.  Simmons,  E.  Q.  Sewall,  B.  Whitman, 
N.  A.  Staples,  S.  Judd,  B.  Frost.  Of  those  who  are  still 
in  the  body,  we  gratefully  claim  as  fellow-laborers  in  the 
antislavery  cause  Drs.  J.  G.  Palfrey,  W.  H.  Furness,  J. 


336  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

F.  Clarke,  T.  T.  Stone,  J.  Allen,  G.  W.  Briggs,  R.  P. 
Stebbins,  0.  Stearns,  and  Rev.  Messrs.  S.  May,  Jr., 
C.  Stetson,  W.  H.  Channing,  M.  D.  Conway,  0.  B. 
Frothingham,  J.  Parkman,  Jr.,  J.  T.  Sargent,  N.  Hall, 
A.  A.  Livermore,  J.  L.  Russell,  J.  H.  Heywood,  T.  W. 
Higginson,  R.  W.  Emerson,  S.  Longfellow,  S.  Johnson, 
F.  Frothingham,  W.  H.  Knapp,  R.  F.  Wallcut,  R.  Coll- 
yer,  E.  B.  Willson,  W.  P.  Tilden,  W.  H.  Fish,  C.  G. 
Ames,  John  Weiss,  R.  C.  Waterston,  T.  J.  Mumford, 
C.  C.  Shackford,  F.  W.  Holland,  E.  Buckingham,  C.  C. 
Sewall,  F.  Tiffany,  R.  R.  Shippen.  All  these  are  or  were 
Unitarian  preachers,  and  did  service  in  the  conflict. 
Many  of  them  suffered  obloquy,  persecution,  loss,  be 
cause  of  their  fidelity  to  the  principles  of  impartial 
liberty.  I  may  have  forgotten  some  whose  names  should 
stand  in  this  honored  list.  I  have  mentioned  all  whose 
services  I  remember  to  have  witnessed  or  to  have  heard 
of.  How  small  a  portion  of  the  whole  number  of  our 
ministers  during  the  last  forty  years ! 

The  Unitarians  as  a  body  dealt  with  the  question  of 
slavery  in  any  but  an  impartial,  courageous,  and  Chris 
tian  way.  Continually  in  their  public  meetings  the  ques 
tion  was  staved  off  and  driven  out,  because  of  technical, 
formal,  verbal  difficulties  which  were  of  no  real  impor 
tance,  and  ought  not  to  have  caused  a  moment's  hesita 
tion.  Avowing  among  their  distinctive  doctrines,  "  The 
fatherly  character  of  God  as  reflected  in  his  Son  Jesus 
Christ,"  and  "  The  brotherhood  of  'man  with  man  every 
where"  we  had  a  right  to  expect  from  Unitarians  a 
steadfast  and  unqualified  protest  against  so  unjust, 
tyrannical,  and  cruel  a  system  as  that  of  American 
slavery.  And  considering  their  position  as  a  body,  not 
entangled  with  any  proslavery  alliances,  not  hampered 
by  any  ecclesiastical  organization,  it  does  seem  to  me 
that  they  were  pre-eminently  guilty  in  reference  to  the 


UNITARIANS.  337 

enslavement  of  the  millions  in  our  land  with  its  at 
tendant  wrongs,  cruelties,  horrors.  They,  of  all  other 
sects,  ought  to  have  spoken  boldly,  as  one  man,  for  God 
our  Fatter,  for  Jesus  the  all-loving  Saviour  and  Elder 
Brother,  and  for  Humanity,  especially  where  it  was  out 
raged  in  the  least  of  the  brethren.  But  they  did  not. 
They  refused  to  speak  as  a  body,  and  censured,  con 
demned,  execrated  their  members  who  did  speak  faith 
fully  for  the  down-trodden,  and  who  co-operated  with  him 
whom  a  merciful  Providence  sent  as  the  prophet  of 
the  reform,  which  alone  could  have  saved  our  country 
from  our  late  awful  civil  war.  Let  no  honor  be  with 
held  from  the  individuals  who  were  so  prominent  and 
noble  exceptions  to  the  general  policy  of  the  denomina 
tion,  —  the  ministers  whom  I  have  named  above,  to 
gether  with  those  faithful  laymen,  Samuel  E-  Sewall, 
Francis  Jackson,  David  L.  Child,  Ellis  Gray  Loring, 
Edmund  Quincy,  A.  Bronson  Alcott,  Dr.  H.  I.  Bow- 
ditch,  William  I.  Bowditch,  with  others ;  and  those  ex 
cellent  women,  Mrs.  L.  M.  Child,  Mrs.  Maria  W.  Chap 
man,  Mrs.  Follen,  Miss  Cabot,  Mrs.  Mary  May,  Misses 
Weston,  Misses  Chapman,  Miss  Sargent,  and  more  who 
should  be  named  ;  let  no  honor  be  withheld  from  these 
and  such  as  they  were.  But  let  the  sad  truth  be  plainly 
told,  as  a  solemn  warning  to  all  coming  generations,  that 
even  the  Unitarians,  as  a  body,  were  corrupted  and  mor 
ally  paralyzed  by  our  national  consenting  with  slavehold 
ers,  even  the  Unitarians  to  whose  avowed  faith  in  the 
paternity  of  God,  the  brotherhood  of  all  mankind,  and 
the  divinity  of  human  nature,  the  enslavement  of  men 
should  have  been  especially  abhorrent.  On  a  subse 
quent  page  I  shall  have  occasion  to  tell  of  their  most 
glaring  dereliction  of  duty  to  the  enslaved,  and  those 
who  were  ready  to  help  them  out  of  bondage.  Mean 
while  I  must  state  some  facts  in  support  of  my  allega- 
15  v 


338  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

tions  against  the  sect  to  which  I  belong  and  with  which 

I  shall  labor  for  the  dissemination  of  our  most  precious 
faith  so  long  as  life  and  strength  remain. 

In  1843  the  subject  of  the  slavery  of  millions  in  our 
land  was  brought  before  the  American  Unitarian  Associ 
ation  by  Rev.  John  Parkman,  Jr.  But  it  was  not  dis 
cussed.  It  was  put  aside  as  a  matter  about  which  there 
were  serious  differences  of  opinion  among  the  members, 
and  with  which  that  body,  therefore,  had  better  not 
meddle. 

Early  in  1844  an  address  on  the  subject  was  sent 
from  British  Unitarians  to  their  brethren  in  America. 
It  was  an  able,  affectionate,  respectful  appeal  to  us, 
signed  by  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  ministers.  A 
meeting  of  the  Unitarian  clergy  was  held  in  Boston  to 
consider  and  reply  to  it.  But  it  seemed  to  be  regarded 
by  many,  and  was  spoken  of  by  some,  as  an  impertinence. 

II  Our  British  brethren,"  it  was  said,  "  are  interfering  in 
a  matter  which  is  beset  with  peculiar  difficulties  in  this 
country,  about  which  they  know  little  or  nothing."  And 
my  cousin,  Rev.  Samuel  May,  Jr.,  of  Leicester,  who  had 
visited  England  the  year  before,  was  severely  censured 
for  having  encouraged  our  brethren  there  thus  to  meddle. 
Here  let  me  say,  few  have  labored  so  diligently,  faith 
fully,  disinterestedly,  as  Mr.  May  has  in  the  cause  of  the 
slaves.     And  no  one  of  our  denomination  has  taken  so 
much  pains  to  prevent  the  Unitarians  from  committing 
themselves  to  the  wrong  side,  or  failing  to  do  their  duty 
on  the  right  side,  of  every  question  relating  to  slavery. 
For   this   fidelity    he   has   received    anything   but   the 
thanks  of  most  of  the  brethren.     Here  and  elsewhere 
I   am  bound  to  tell  what  I  know  of  him,  for  owing  to 
the   similarity  of  our  names,  and  the  sameness  of  our 
connections  with  the  Antislavery  Societies,  many  of  his 
good  words  and  deeds  have  been  attributed  to  me  by 

'those  who  do  not  know  both  of  us. 


UNITARIANS.  339 

At  the  Autumnal  Unitarian  Conference  held  at  Wor 
cester,  Mass.,  October,  1842,  he  offered  a  series  of  reso 
lutions,  setting  forth  the  great  extent,  the  appalling 
evils,  and  fearful  wickedness  of  slavery,  and  endeavored 
to  bring  the  Conference  to  resolve  :  "  That,  as  ministers 
and  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ,  we  feel  bound  to  declare 
our  solemn  opinion,  that  the  institution  of  slavery  is 
radically  and  inherently  opposite  to  his  religion  ;  that 
it  ought  to  be  immediately  abandoned  by  all  who  profess 
to  be  Christians  ;  and  that  we  do  affectionately  admonish 
and  entreat  all  who  hold  *  the  like  precious  faith '  with 
us,  to  free  themselves  at  once  from  the  guilt  of  sustain 
ing  this  evil  thing."  There  was  manifested  a  great  un 
willingness  to  express  any  opinion  upon  the  subject,  and 
the  Conference  adjourned  without  taking  action  upon  it. 

When  in  England,  in  the  summer  of  1843,  Mr.  May 
attended  a  large  meeting  of  Unitarians.  Having  been 
invited  to  address  them,  and  to  speak  particularly  upon 
the  subject  of  slavery  in  America,  and  of  the  attitude 
of  our  denomination  towards  the  great  iniquity,  he  did 
speak  at  considerable  length.  But  he  gave  a  very  truth 
ful  and  candid  statement  of  the  case  as  it  then  was.  He 
set  before  his  British  hearers  the  influences  which  tended 
to  mislead  even  the  most  kindly  disposed  in  this  country, 
and  the  obstacles  and  difficulties  that  beset  the  way  of 
those  who  were  most  resolute,  in  the  cause  of  the  en 
slaved.  He  acknowledged  gratefully,  generously,  the  im 
portant  services  which  Dr.  Follen,  Dr.  Charming,  and 
other  Unitarian  ministers  and  laymen  had  rendered. 
But  he  was  obliged,  as  a  man  of  truth,  to  confess  that 
our  denomination  as  a  whole  had  been  recreant  to  their 
duty.  And  he  encouraged  our  English  brethren  to  ad 
dress  a  letter  of  fraternal  counsel  and  entreaty  to  us, 
not  doubting  that  such  a  communication  would  be  grate 
fully  received  by  the  American  Unitarians  as  coming 


340  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

from  those  who  had  had  to  contend  against  a  similar  sys 
tem  of  iniquity,  and  had  helped  their  national  government 
to  abolish  it.  But  I  have  already  stated  how  utterly  dis 
appointed  he  was  in  the  result. 

Soon  after  his  return  from  England,  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  American  Unitarian  Association  in  May, 
1844,  he  again  brought  up  the  subject,  and  earnestly 
endeavored,  with  others,  to  induce  that  body  to  vote 
that  slaveholding  was  anti-republican,  inhuman,  and  un 
christian.  It  led  to  a  protracted  discussion  of  two  days 
or  more,  which  resulted  in  nothing  else  than  a  vote  of 
censure  passed  upon  the  Unitarian  Church  in  Savannah, 
Georgia,  because  they  refused  to  receive  the  services  of 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Motte,  sent  to  them  by  the  Executive  Com 
mittee  of  the  Association,  having  heard  that  he  had  pro 
tested  in  a  sermon  against  the  wrongs  inflicted  upon  the 
colored  people  both  at  the  North  and  South. 

Henry  H.  Fuller,  of  Boston,  strenuously  opposed  the 
introduction  of  the  subject  of  slavery  to  the  considera 
tion  of  the  Association  in  any  way.  "  We  of  the  North 
have  nothing  to  do  with  it.  It  is  a  system  of  labor  es 
tablished  in  some  of  our  sister  States  by  their  highest 
legislative  authority.  It  was  consented  to  by  the  framers 
of  our  National  Constitution,  and  guaranties  given  for  its 
protection,"  &c.,  &c.  After  much  more  of  the  same 
sort,  he  gave  way  for  Mr.  May  to  offer  the  following  res 
olutions,  instead  of  those  by  which  he  had  called  up  the 
debate  :  — 

1.  "  Resolved,  That  the  American  Unitarian  Association,  de 
sirous  that  the  pecuniary  or  other  aid  rendered  by  them  from 
time  to  time  to  individuals  and  societies  in  the  slaveholding 
sections  of  our  country  should  not  be  misunderstood  or  mis 
construed,  do  hereby  declare  their  conviction  that  the  institu 
tion  of  slavery,  as  existing  in  this  country,  is  contrary  to  the 
will  of  God,  to  the  Gospel  of  Christ  (especially  to  the  views 


UNITARIANS.  341 

which  we  entertain  of  it),  to  the  rights  of  man,  and  to  every 
principle  of  justice  and  humanity ;  and  in  a  spirit  not  of  dic 
tation,  but  of  friendly  remonstrance  and  entreaty,  would  call 
upon  those  whom  they  may  address,  as  believers  in  one  God 
and  Father  of  all,  to  bear  a  faithful  testimony  against  slavery. 
2.  a  Resolved,  That  the  Executive  Committee  be,  and  they 
hereby  are,  requested  to  transmit  a  copy  of  the  preceding  res 
olution  to  each  of  our  auxiliary  Associations,  and  to  such 
societies  in  the  slaveholding  sections  of  the  country  as  may 
from  time  to  time  receive  pecuniary  aid  from  this  Association." 

Dr.  J.  H.  Morison  objected  to  any  action  by  the  meet 
ing.  "  1st.  Because  we  shall  thereby  lose  our  influence 
at  the  South.  2d.  Because  we  shall  convert  the  Asso 
ciation  into  an  Abolition  Society.  3d.  Because  it  would 
be  a  dastardly  proceeding,  at  our  distance  from  the  scene 
of  danger,  to  utter  sentiments  hostile  to  slavery,  with 
which  the  Southern  Unitarian  societies  might  be  iden 
tified." 

Dr.  E.  S.  Gannett  said  that  the  Association  never  con 
templated  any  action  on  slavery.  It  was  contrary  to  the 
objects  of  its  formation.  It  would  also  be  an  invasion 
of  the  rights  of  conscience,  —  being  the  setting  up  of 
a  creed  with  reference  to  this  subject.  Moreover,  he 
said,  it  would  be  injurious  to  the  slaves.  Ten  years  ago 
their  bondage  was  much  lighter  than  at  present.  And 
then  it  would  be  to  identify  ourselves  with  the  Aboli 
tionists  of  the  free  States,  whom  he  most  unsparingly 
and  vehemently  condemned,  and  said  there  was  little 
comparative  need  for  us  to  go  South  to  rebuke  an  evil, 
when  we  had  such  a  "  hellish  spirit  alive  and  active  here 
in  our  very  midst,  even  in  New  England." 

Hon.  S.  C.  Phillips,  of  Salem,  was  not  in  favor  of  such 
action  as  the  resolutions  proposed,  but  still  thought  we 
should  take  some  action,  and  very  properly  in  connection 
with  this  case  of  the  Savannah  church  we  should  pre- 


342  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

sent,  as  we  fairly  might,  our  views  on  the  whole  subject 
of  slavery.  He  said  there  had  been  great  error  in  our 
so  long  silence  on  the  subject.  Our  leading  policy  had 
been  to  avoid  it,  and  much  injury,  and  the  prevention 
of  much  good,  had  been  the  consequence.  "  The  time 
has  come,"  said  he,  "  when  no  man  can  be  silent  every 
where,  and  at  all  times,  on  this  subject  without  guilt." 

Mr.  Phillips  offered  a  series  of  resolutions  instead  of 
Mr.  May's. 

Rev.  Mr.  Lunt,  of  Quincy,  opposed  any  action,  and 
spoke  with  great  severity  of  the  Abolitionists,  whom  he 
charged  with  being  bent  on  the  dissolution  of  our  Union 
and  also  the  subversion  of  Christianity. 

My  cousin  vindicated  the  Abolitionists  from  Mr. 
Lunt's  charges,  reminding  him  and  the  audience  of  the 
ground  which  Dr.  Channing  and  other  true  friends  of  our 
country  had  taken  respecting  disunion,  in  case  of  the  an 
nexation  of  Texas.  Mr.  May  showed  that  the  Abolition 
ists  had  opposed  only  a  false  and  corrupt  church,  not  the 
Church  of  Christ,  and  still  less  Christianity  itself,  in 
which  they  gloried  as  the  basis  and  impelling  principle 
of  their  movement. 

The  resolutions  were  ably  supported  by  the  mover, 
Mr.  Phillips,  and  four  other  laymen,  and  by  eleven  min 
isters,  and  finally  passed  by  a  majority  of  forty  to  fifteen, 
and  were  in  part  as  follows  :  — 

After  a  preamble,  setting  forth  the  offensive  conduct 
of  the  Savannah  church,  — • 

"  Resolved,  That,  viewing  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the 
light  of  Christianity,  we  cannot  fail  to  perceive  that  it  con 
flicts  with  the  natural  rights  of  human  beings  as  the  equal 
children  of  a  common  Father,  and  that  it  subverts  the  funda 
mental  principle  of  human  brotherhood. 

"  Resolved,  In  the  necessary  effects  of  slavery  upon  the 
personal  and  social  condition,  and  upon  the  moral  and  re- 


UNITARIANS.  343 

ligious  character  of  all  affected  by  it,  we  perceive  an  accumu 
lation  of  evils  over  which  Christianity  must  weep,  against 
which  Christianity  should  remonstrate,  and  for  the  removal 
of  which  Christianity  appeals  to  the  hearts  and  consciences 
of  all  disciples  of  Jesus  to  do  what  they  can  by  their  prayers, 
by  the  indulgence  and  expression  of  their  sympathy,  and  by 
the  unremitting  and  undisguised  exertion  of  whatever  moral 
and  religious  influence  they  may  possess." 

Then  follows  a  resolution  that  it  should  not  be  con 
sidered,  in  any  part  of  our  country,  a  disqualification  of 
any  minister  or  missionary  for  the  performance  of  the 
appropriate  duties  of  his  office,  that  he  is  known  to  have 
expressed  antislavery  sentiments,  and  approving  the 
course  of  the  Executive  Committee  in  withdrawing  their 
assistance  from  the  church  in  Savannah  because  of  their 
rejection  of  Rev.  Mr.  Motte. 

The  discussions  at  that  meeting  were  seasoned  with 
many  vehement  denunciations  of  the  Abolitionists,  uttered 
by  several  prominent  Unitarian  ministers.  William  L. 
Garrison  was  denounced  as  one  "  instigated  by  a  diaboli 
cal  spirit."  "  The  Abolitionists,"  it  was  said,  "  were  aim 
ing  to  subvert  Christianity,  to  extirpate  it  from  the 
earth."  Dr.  Francis  Parkman,  of  Boston,  loudly  de 
clared  that  "  no  letter  or  resolution  condemning  slavery 
should  ever  go  forth  from  the  American  Unitarian  Asso 
ciation  while  he  was  a  member  of  it."  And  he  highly 
commended  a  New  England  captain,  of  whom  we  had 
then  recently  heard,  because  "  he  put  his  ship  about  and 
carried  back  to  the  master  a  slave  whom  he  had  found 
secreted  on  board  the  vessel."  Dr.  Parkman  openly  and 
personally  denounced  those  who  introduced  the  subject, 
as  "  born  to  plague  the  Association."  And  he,  together 
with  Dr.  G.  Putnam,  and  other  prominent  ministers,  spoke 
of  Dr.  Channing's  earnestness  in  the  antislavery  cause 
as  a  great  weakness. 


344  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

Later  in  the  same  year,  1845,  at  a  meeting  of  Uni 
tarian  ministers  in  Boston,  "  A  Protest  against  American 
Slavery,"  prepared  I  suppose  by  Rev.  Caleb  Stetson, 
John  T.  Sargent,  and  Samuel  May,  Jr.,,  was  adopted  and 
sent  out  to  be  circulated  for  signatures.  It  received 
the  names  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-three  ministers, 
of  whom  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  wrere  of  New  Eng 
land.  It  was  publicly  stated  at  the  time  that  about 
eighty,  comprising  many  of  the  most  influential  minis 
ters  of  the  denomination,  refused  to  sign  the  Protest. 
Among  the  recusants  were  the  Rev.  Drs.  Gannett,  Dewey, 
Young,  Parkman,  Lothrop,  G.  Putnam,  Lamson,  N. 
Frothingham,  S.  Barrett,  E.  Peabody,  G.  E.  Ellis,  Bar- 
tol,  Morison,  and  Lunt. 

Of  those  who  did  sign  the  Protest,  I  am  sorry  to  add 
not  a  large  proportion  can  with  truth  be  said  to  have 
been  faithful  to  the  solemn  pledge  they  therein  gave,  as 
follows  :  "  We  on  our  part  do  hereby  pledge  ourselves, 
before  God  and  our  brethren,  never  to  be  weary  in  labor 
ing  in  the  cause  of  human  rights  and  freedom,  until 
slavery  shall  be  abolished  and  every  slave  set  free." 

Once  or  twice  afterwards  Mr.  May  pressed  the  subject 
upon  the  Unitarian  Association,  but  with  little  better 
results.  Subsequent  events,  however,  have  shown,  too 
plainly  to  be  denied  or  doubted,  that  it  would  have  been 
more  creditable  to  themselves,  and  far  better  for  our 
country,  if  "  the  older  and  wiser  "  men  of  our  denomina 
tion  had  listened  to  his  counsels  and  followed  his  noble 
example.  Alas,  our  land  is  filled  with  testimonies 
written  in  blood,  that  if  the  ministers  of  religion  had 
only  been  fearless  and  faithful  in  declaring  the  impartial 
love  of  the  Heavenly  Father  for  the  children  of  men  of 
all  complexions,  and  their  equal,  inalienable  rights,  which 
would  assuredly  be  vindicated  by  Divine  justice,  our  late 
civil  war  would  have  been  averted ! 


THE  FUGITIVE   SLAVE  LAW.  345 

In  1847  Mr.  May  was  appointed  General  Agent  of  the 
Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society,  and  continued  in  that 
responsible  and  laborious  office  until  after  the  abolition 
of  slavery  in  18G5.  He  was  instant  in  season  and  out 
of  season,  and  in  co-operation  with  his  devoted  assistant, 
Rev.  R.  F.  Wallcut,  rendered  services  the  amount  and 
value  of  which  cannot  easily  be  estimated. 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW. 

The  awful  iniquity  of  our  nation  culminated  in  the 
enactment  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  which,  as  Edmund 
Quincy  said  at  the  time,  stood,  as  it  now  stands,  "  a  piece 
of  diabolical  ingenuity,  for  the  accomplishment  of  a 
devilish  purpose,  ivithout  a  rival  among  all  the  tyrannical 
enactments  or  edicts  of  servile  parliaments  or  despotic 
monarchs."  It  was  the  essential  article  of  a  political 
conglomerate,  prepared  by  the  Arch  Compromiser,  Henry 
Clay,  which  was  called  the  Omnibus  Bill ;  some  parts  of 
which,  he  vainly  thought,  would  conciliate  the  Northern 
States  to  the  reception  of  the  whole.  It  provided  for  the 
admission  of  California  into  our  Union,  with  an  anti- 
slavery  Constitution ;  for  the  organization  of  two  other 
Territories  without  the  prohibition  of  slavery ;  the  ex 
tension  of  the  southwestern  boundary  of  Texas  to  the 
Rio  Grande ;  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,  with  the  guaranty  of  slavery  to  its  in 
habitants  until  they  should  see  fit  to  abolish  it ;  and  the 
perpetuity  of  the  interstate  slave-trade  ;  but  infinitely 
worse  than  any  of  these  objectionable  parts  were  the 
stringent  measures  it  proposed  for  the  recovery  of  fugi 
tives  from  slavery.  Stripped  of  the  verbiage  of  legal  en 
actments,  the  provisions  of  this  abominable  law  were  as 
follows  :  — 

15* 


346  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

1.  The  claimant  of  any  person  who  had  escaped,  or  should 
escape  from  slavery  in  any  State  or  Territory,  might  apply  to 
any  Court  of  Record  or  Judge  thereof,  describe  the  fugitive 
and  make  satisfactory  proof  that  he  or  she  owed  service  or 
labor  to  said  claimant.  Thereupon  the  Court,  or  in  vacation 
the  Judge,  was  required  to  cause  a  record  to  be  made  of  the 
description  of  the  alleged  fugitive,  and  of  the  proof  of  his  or 
her  enslavement,  and  give  an  attested  copy  of  that  record  to 
the  claimant ;  which  copy  was  required  to  be  received  by  any 
court,  judge,  or  commissioner  in  any  other  State  or  Territory 
of  the  Union,  as  full  and  conclusive  evidence  that  the  person 
claimed,  and  so  described,  was  a  fugitive  from  slavery  and 
owed  service  to  the  claimant,  and  therefore  should  be  de 
livered  up. 

Any  marshal  or  deputy  who  should  refuse  to  arrest  such  a 
fugitive  was  to  be  fined  one  thousand  dollars.  And  if,  after 
having  arrested  him  or  her,  the  fugitive  should  in  any  way 
escape  from  his  custody,  the  marshal  or  deputy  should  be 
held  liable  to  pay  to  the  claimant  the  value  of  the  runaway. 

And  any  person  who  should  in  any  way  prevent  the  claim 
ant  or  his  agent  or  assistants  from  getting  possession  of  the 
fugitive,  by  hiding  him  or  helping  him  to  escape,  or  by  open 
opposition  to  his  would-be  captor,  —  such  offender  was  to  be 
fined  one  thousand  dollars  for  violating  this  righteous  law ;  and 
be  liable  to  pay  another  thousand  dollars  to  the  claimant  of  the 
fugitive. 

In  order  that  every  facility  should  be  afforded  to  our 
slaveholding  brethren  to  retake  their  fleeing  property, 
many  commissioners  were  ordered  to  be  appointed  in 
all  suitable  places  (in  addition  to  the  courts  and  judges) 
whose  especial  duty  it  should  be  to  attend  to  cases  that 
might  arise  under  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  And  each 
commissioner  or  judge,  who  found  the  accused  guilty  of 
having  fled  from  bondage,  was  to  receive  a  fee  of  ten  dol 
lars.  But  if  the  proof  adduced  by  the  claimant  did  not 
satisfy  him  that  the  accused  was  a  fugitive  from  his  ser 
vice,  then  .the  judge  or  commissioner  was  to  receive  only 


THE   FUGITIVE   SLAVE   LAW.  347 

five  dollars.  Thus  bribery  was  by  this  law  superadded  to 
every  other  deviee  to  enuMe  the  American  slaveholder  to 
recover  his  escaped  slave,  and  return  him  or  her  to  a  still 
more  cruel  bondage. 

Nor  was  this  all  that  was  atrociously  wicked  in  the 
enactment.  It  provided  further  that,  while  the  claim 
ant  or  his  agent  might  give  testimony  or  make  affidavit 
to  the  enslavement  of  the  arrested  one,  "in  no  trial  or 
hearing  under  the  Act  was  the  testimony  of  the  alleged 
fugitive  to  be  admitted  in  evidence  "  that  he  was  not  the 
one  that  his  claimant  called  him,  or  that  he  had  been 
emancipated  by  the  will  of  a  former  owner,  or  by  the 
purchase  of  his  liberty. 

If  there  be  among  the  laws  of  any  other  nation,  in  any 
other  part  and  in  any  other  age  of  the  world,  an  enact 
ment,  a  decree,  a  ukase,  so  profoundly  wicked,  so  ingen 
iously  cruel,  as  this  law  which  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  passed  in  1850,  —  the  very  middle  of  the  nine 
teenth  century,  —  I  beg  to  be  informed  of  it,  for  I  confess 
at  the  close  of  this  recital  I  feel  as  if,  in  my  shame  and 
misery,  I  should  be  relieved  for  a  moment  by  bad  com 
pany. 

At  first  it  may  seem  strange  that  Mr.  Clay  should 
have  supposed  the  people  of  the  Northern  States  would 
conform  to  the  requirements  of  such  a  law ;  would  con 
sent  that  their  States  should  be  made  the  hunting- 
grounds,  and  themselves  the  bloodhounds  of  Southern 
oppressors  in  pursuit  of  their  fleeing  slaves.  And  yet 
was  he  not  justified  in  this  low  opinion  of  us  by  the  con 
duct  of  many  of  those  who  were  elected  to  be  representa 
tives  of  the  opinions  and  wishes  of  the  majority  of  our 
communities  1  The  execrable  bill  could  not  have  become 
a  law,  without  the  concurrence  of  Northern  members  in 
both  Houses  of  Congress ;  for,  in  both,  the  larger  num 
ber  were  from  the  non-slaveholding  States.  Yet  it  was 


348  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

enacted  by  the  votes  of  twenty-seven  of  the  Senators 
against  only  twelve ;  and  by  one  hundred  and  nine  of 
the  Representatives  opposed  by  seventy-five.  And  many 
of  these  recreants  to  the  fundamental  principles  of  justice 
and  humanity  had  led  Mr.  Clay,  and  the  Southern  politi 
cians  generally,  to  expect  such  votes  as  they  gave  by  the 
sentiments  they  uttered  in  the  preceding  debates. 

DANIEL  WEBSTEE. 

The  man  who  did  more  than  any  one,  if  not  more  than 
all  of  the  members  of  Congress  from  the  free  States, 
to  procure  the  passage  of  the  Bill  of  Abominations,  was 
Daniel  Webster,  who  had  represented  Massachusetts  in 
the  United  States  Senate  for  twenty-five  years  ;  wrho  led 
her  in  opposition  to  the  Missouri  Compromise  in  1819, 
and  for  nearly  twenty  years  afterwards  was  regarded 
as  a  leader  of  the  advanced  guard  of  liberty  and  hu 
manity.  But  when,  in  1838,  he  went  into  the  Southern 
States  to  make  his  bids  for  the  presidency,  he  uttered 
words  that  foretold  his  moral  declension,  though  not  to 
so  deep  a  depth  as  he  descended  in  his  advocacy  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law.  The  infamy  of  his  speech  on  the 
7th  of  March,  1850,  can  never  be  forgotten  while  he  is 
remembered.  He  then  declared  it  to  be  his  intention 
"  to  support  the  Bill  with  all  its  provisions  to  the  fullest 
extent." 

Another  fact  which  adds  a  sting  of  bitterness  to  the 
shame  of  the  North  was,  that  this  Act,  the  baseness, 
meanness,  cruelty  of  which  no  epithet  in  my  vocabulary 
can  adequately  express,  became  a  law  by  the  signature 
of  the  President,  subscribed  by  Millar d  Fillmore,  a  New 
York  man  and  a  Unitarian  withal. 

Notwithstanding  the  general  expressions  of  indignation 
and  disgust  at  Mr.  Webster's  baseness  and  treachery  in 


DANIEL   WEBSTER.  349 

supporting  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill  throughout  the  North, 
especially  from  all  parts  of  his  own  State,  Massachusetts, 
he  and  other  members  of  the  Senate  and  the  House 
of  Representatives  persisted  until,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
Act  became  a  law.  The  arch-traitor  was  rewarded  with 
the  office  of  Secretary  of  State.  Such  was  his  gratitude 
for  this  small  compensation  that,  on  taking  leave  of  the 
Senate,  he  pledged  himself  anew  to  the  infamous  princi 
ples  he  had  avowed  on  the  7th  of  March.* 

No  sooner  was  the  deed  done,  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act 
sent  forth  to  be  the  law  of  the  land,  than  outcries  of 
contempt  and  defiance  came  from  every  free  State,  and 
pledges  of  protection  were  given  to  the  colored  popula 
tion.  It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  my  plan  to  attempt 
an  account  of  the  indignation-meetings  that  were  held 
in  places  too  numerous  to  be  even  mentioned  here. 
They  will  make  a  proud  episode  in  the  history  of  our 
nation  since  1830,  whenever  it  shall  be  fully  written. 
Meanwhile,  let  me  here  refer  my  readers  to  the  admirable 
Reports  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society,  espe 
cially  those  written  by  the  piquant  pen,  under  the  guid 
ance  of  the  astute  mind,  of  Edmund  Quincy,  for  the 
last  ten  or  fifteen  years  of  our  fiery  conflict. 

I  must  confine  myself  to  my  personal  recollections, 
and  in  this  particular  they  are  most  grateful  to  me,  and 
honorable  to  the  city  of  Syracuse,  where  I  have  resided 
since  1845. 

The  Fugitive  Slave  Act  was  signed  by  the  President 
on  the  18th  of  September.  Eight  days  afterwards,  a 
call  was  issued  through  our  newspapers  summoning  the 
citizens  of  Syracuse  and  its  vicinity,  without  respect  to 
party,  to  meet  in  our  City  Hall  on  the  4th  of  October 
ensuing,  to  denounce  and  take  measures  to  withstand 
this  law.  As  the  time  of  the  meeting  approached  the 

*  See  Appendix. 


350  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

popular  excitement  increased,  and  at  an  early  hour 
the  hall  was  crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity.  Hon.  A. 
H.  Hovey,  the  Mayor  of  the  city,  was  elected  to  preside, 
sustained  by  eight  vice-presidents  of  the  two  political 
parties,  three  of  whom  had  been  then,  or  have  been 
since,  mayors  of  Syracuse,  and  the  other  five,  gentle 
men  of  the  highest  respectability,  though  only  one  of 
them  had  been  active  with  the  Abolitionists,  —  Hon. 
E.  W.  Leavenworth,  Hon.  Horace  Wheaton,  John  Wood 
ruff,  Esq.,  Captain  Oliver  Teall,  Robert  Gere,  Esq.,  Hon. 
L.  Kingsley,  Captain  Hiram  Putnam,  Dr.  Lyman  Clary. 
The  President  addressed  the  meeting  very  acceptably, 
declared  himself  to  be  with  us  in  opposition  to  the  law, 
adding :  "  The  colored  man  must  be  protected,  —  he 

I  must  be  secure  among  us,  come  what  will  of  political 
organizations."  A  series  of  thirteen  resolutions  was 

.read,  three  of  which  will  make  known  sufficiently  the 
spirit  of  them  all.  The  second  was  :  — 

1.  "  Resolved,  That  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  recently  enacted 
by  the  Congress  of  these  United  States,  is  a  most  flagrant 
outrage  upon  the  inalienable  rights  of  man,  and  a  daring  as 
sault  upon  the  palladium  of  American  liberties." 

3.  "  That  every  intelligent  man  and  woman  throughout  our 
country,  ought  to  read  attentively,  and  understand  the  pro 
visions  of  this  law,  in  all  its  details,  so  that  they  may  be 
fully  aware  of  its  diabolical  spirit  and  cruel  ingenuity,  and 
prepare  themselves  to  oppose  all  attempts  to  enforce  it." 

13.  "  Resolved,  That  we  recommend  the  appointment  of  a 
Vigilance  Committee  of  thirteen  citizens,  whose  duty  it  shall 
be  to  see  that  no  person  is  deprived  of  his  liberty  without 
1  due  process  of  law.'  And  all  good  citizens  are  earnestly  re 
quested  to  aid  and  sustain  them  in  all  needed  efforts  for  the 
security  of  every  person  claiming  the  protection  of  our  laws." 

The  meeting  was  addressed  in  a  very  spirited  strain 
by  two  colored  gentlemen,  —  Rev.  S.  R.  Ward  and  Rev. 


DANIEL   WEBSTER.  351 

J.  W.  Loguen.     They  each  declared  that  they  and  their\ 
colored  fellow-citizens  generally  had  determined  to  make 
the  most  violent  resistance  to  any  attempt  that  might 
be  made  to  re-enslave  them.     They  would  have  their 
liberty  or  die  in  its  defence. 

Mr.  Charles  A.  Wheaton,  Chairman  of  a  Committee, 
then  read  an  Address  to  the  citizens  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  setting  very  plainly  before  them  the  degradation 
to  which  this  law  would  reduce  them.  It  showed  them 
how  the  law  would  nullify  all  the  provisions  made  in  the 
Constitution  for  the  protection  of  our  dearest  rights,  as 
well  as  the  liberties  of  any  amongst  us  who  might  have 
complexions  shaded  in  any  measure.  And  it  called  up 
on  the  citizens  of  the  Empire  State  to  rise  in  their  maj 
esty  and  put  down  all  attempts  to  enforce  this  law. 

Hon.  Charles  B.  Sedgwick  then  rose  and  advocated 
the  Resolutions  and  Address  in  an  admirable  speech. 
He  exposed  the  atrocious  features  of  the  slave-catching 
law  in  detail,  demonstrated  its  unconstitutionality  as 
well  as  cruelty,  and  awakened  throughout  his  audience 
the  keenest  indignation  against  it.  He  said  it  was  the 
vilest  law  that  tyranny  ever  devised.  He  would  resist 
it,  and  he  called  on  all  who  heard  him  to  resist  it  every 
where,  in  every  way,  to  the  utmost  of  their  power. 
Rev.  R.  R.  Raymond,  of  the  Baptist  Church,  then  spoke 
stirring  words  in  thrilling  tones.  "  How  can  we  do  to 
others  as  we  would  that  they  should  do  to  us,  if  we  do  not 
resist  this  law  1  Citizens  of  Syracuse  !  shall  a  live  man 
ever  be  taken  out  of  our  city  by  force  of  this  law  1 "  "  No ! 
No  !  !  "  was  the  response  loud  as  thunder.  "  Let  us  tell 
the  Southerners,  then,  that  it  will  not  be  safe  for  them 
to  come  or  send  their  agents  here  to  attempt  to  take 
away  a  fugitive  slave.  [Great  applause.]  I  will  take  the 
hunted  man  to  my  own  house,  and  he  shall  not  be  torn 
away,  and  I  be  left  alive.  [Tremendous  and  long  cheer- 
ing.]" 


352  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

I  was  then  called  up.  But  I  shall  leave  my  readers 
to  imagine  what  I  said,  if  they  will  only  let  it  be  in  very 
strong  opposition  to  the  law. 

The  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  and  an 
Address,  was  then  put  to  vote,  and  adopted  with  only 
one  dissenting  voice.  The  Vigilance  Committee  of  thir 
teen  was  appointed,  and  the  meeting  was  adjourned  to 
the  evening  of  the  12th. 

Our  second  meeting  was,  if  possible,  more  enthusias 
tic  than  the  first.  All  the  seats  in  the  hall  were  filled, 
and  the  aisles  crowded  before  the  hour  to  which  the 
meeting  was  adjourned.  The  Mayor  called  to  order  pre 
cisely  at  seven  o'clock.  It  devolved  upon  me,  as  Chair 
man  of  the  Committee,  to  report  Resolutions.  There 
were  too  many  of  them  to  be  repeated  here.  Two  or 
three  must  suffice. 

1.  "  Resolved,  That  we  solemnly  reiterate  our  abhorrence 
of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  which  in  effect  is  nothing  less 
than  a  license  for  kidnapping,  under  the  protection  and  at  the 
expense  of  .our  Federal  Government,  which  has  become  the 
tool  of  oppressors." 

6.  "  Resolved,  That  now  is  the  day  and  now  the  hour  to 
take  our  stand  for  liberty  and  humanity.  If  we  now  refuse 
to  assert  our  independency  of  the  tyrants  who  aspire  to  ab 
solute  power  in  our  Republic,  we  may  hope  for  nothing  bet 
ter  than  entire  subjugation  to  their  will,  and  shall  leave  our 
children  in  a  condition  little  better  than  that  of  the  creatures 
of  absolute  despots." 

10.  "  Resolved,  That  as  all  of  us  are  liable  at  any  moment 
to  be  summoned  to  assist  in  kidnapping  such  persons  as  any 
body  may  claim  to  be  his  slaves,  and  to  be  fined  one  thousand 
dollars  if  we  refuse  to  do  the  bidding  of  the  land-pirates, 
whom  this  law  would  encourage  to  prowl  through  our  coun 
try,  it  is  the  dictate  of  prudence  as  well  as  good  fellowship  in 
a  righteous  cause,  that  we  should  unite  ourselves  in  an  Asso 
ciation,  pledged  to  stand  by  its  members  in  opposing  this  law, 


DANIEL   WEBSTER.  353 

and  to  share  with  any  of  them  the  pecuniary  losses  they  may 
incur,  under  the  operation  of  this  law." 

11.  "  Resolved,  That  such  an  Association  be  now  formed, 
so  that  Southern  oppressors  may  know  that  the  people  of 
Syracuse  and  its  vicinity  are  prepared  to  sustain  one  another 
in  resisting  the  encroachments  of  despotism." 

William  H.  Burleigh  first  spoke  in  support  of  the  res 
olutions.  One  of  the  newspapers  the  next  day  said  : 
"  We  can  do  no  justice  to  the  ability  and  surpassing  elo 
quence  of  Mr.  Burleigh's  speech  ;  the  deep  feelings  of  his 
soul  were  poured  out  in  terms  of  consuming  oratory." 
Judge  Nye,  then  of  Madison  County,  was  present,  and 
being  called  to  address  the  meeting,  said,  among  many 
other  good  things  :  "I  am  an  officer  of  the  law.  I  am 
not  sure  that  I  am  not  one  of  those  officers  who  are 
clothed  with  anomalous  and  terrible  powers  by  this  Bill 
of  Abominations.  If  I  am,  I  will  tell  my  constituency 
that  I  will  trample  that  law  in  the  dust,  and  they  must 
find  another  man,  if  there  be  one  who  will  degrade  him 
self,  to  do  this  dirty  work."  "  Be  assured,  Syracusians, 
there  is  not  a  man  among  the  hills  and  valleys  of  Madi 
son  County  who  would  take  my  office  on  condition  of 
obedience  to  this  statute."  These  sentences,  and  other 
good  things  that  Judge  Nye  said,  were  received  with 
great  applause. 

Hon.  C.  B.  Sedgwick  then  presented  a  petition  to 
Congress  for  the  repeal  of  the  Act,  and  called  upon  his 
fellow-citizens  to  sign  it.  He  enforced  this  call  by  a  very 
impressive  speech,  declaring  again  and  again  his  fixed 
determination  to  oppose  to  the  utmost  any  attempt  to 
carry  back  from  Syracuse  a  fugitive  slave.  "A  man  (no, 
a  dog)  may  come  here  scenting  blood  on  the  track  of  our 
brother  Loguen  ;  shall  we  let  him  drag  him  off  to  slavery 
again  ?  No !  never !  !  Loguen  has  been  driven  and 
stricken  from  childhood  to  manhood.  He  has  been 


354  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

literally  a  man  of  sorrows.  His  soul  was  trodden  upon 
by  oppression.  But  he  rose  in  the  might  of  his  man 
hood,  and  made  his  way  across  rivers,  through  swamps, 
over  mountains,  to  our  city.  And  it  shall  be  a  place  of 
safety  to  him.  We  will  not  give  him  up.  He  is  a  hus 
band  and  a  father  on  our  free  soil,  and  will  you  give  him 
back  to  the  hell  of  slavery  1  No  !  never  ! ! 

'  Dear  as  freedom  is, 
And  in  my  soul's  just  estimation  prized  above  all  price,  I  had  rather 

be  myself  the  slave, 
And  wear  the  bonds,  than  fasten  them  on  him.' " 

I  wish  I  could  convey  to  the  ears  of  my  readers  the 
hearty,  deep-toned  notes  of  applause  that  welcomed  these 
declarations. 

I  then  presented  a  pledge,  binding  those  who  might 
sign  it  to  stand  by  one  another,  and  share  equally  all 
pecuniary  penalties  they  might  be  made  to  suffer  be 
cause  of  their  opposition  to  this  oppressive  and  cruel 
Act. 

Rev.  Mr.  Raymond  was  afterwards  called  up,  and  he 
spoke  in  a  manner  that  was  very  affecting.  I  have  room 
for  only  a  brief  extract  from  the  report  of  it. 

"  Oh !  the  hardships  this  law  has  brought  upon  the  fugi 
tives  from  slavery  that  have  sought  an  asylum  with  us  ! 
I  attended  the  other  day  a  meeting  of  Baptist  ministers 
in  Rochester.  There  was  a  colored  brother  there  in  the 
depths  of  distress.  He  "arose  in  our  midst  and  gave 
voice  to  the  agonies  of  his  soul.  A  few  years  since  he 
escaped  from  one  of  the  richest  slaveholders  in  Kentucky. 
With  him,  he  had  been  brought  up  in  ignorance.  Since 
coming  among  us  he  had  learnt  to  read,  and  had  become 
so  well  educated  as  to  be  able  to  teach  others.  In  the 
course  of  two  years  he  had  gathered  a  church  in  a  meet 
ing-house  that  had  been  built  mainly  by  his  instrumen 
tality.  He  had  a  comfortable  homestead  in  Rochester, 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  355 

and  a  happy  family  about  him.  But  now  his  master 
had  sent  for  him,  declaring  he  would  have  him  under 
this  law.  *  Oh  ! '  he  cried,  *  what  have  I  done  1  what  is 
my  crime  ?  All  the  power  and  cunning  and  sagacity  of 
this  great  nation  are  moving  to  drag  me  back  again  into 
slavery,  —  worse  than  death.'  His  head  fell  upon  his 
bosom,  he  sobbed  aloud,  and  we  wept  with  him,  and  a 
deep  groan  of  execration  went  up  from  the  souls  of  us 
all  to  the  God  of  mercy  against  this  law."  This  recital 
awakened  intense  feeling  throughout  our  meeting  and 
murmurs  of  indignation.  "And  now,"  Mr.  Raymond 
continued,  "  suppose  that  while  we  were  glowing  with 
sympathy  for  that  brother  and  abhorrence  of  the  law,  — 
suppose  the  man-thief  had  come  into  that  meeting  and 
put  his  hand  upon  that  brother  to  bear  him  off  to  the 
South.  What  would  have  been  the  result  1  I  tell  you 
we  would  have  defended  him,  if  we  had  had  to  tear  that 
man-thief  in  pieces."  This  was  received  with  great  ap 
plause.  "What,"  continued  Mr.  Raymond,  "what  if 
the  officers  should  come  here  and  put  their  hand  on  me 
as  one  claimed  to  be  the  property  of  another  man,  would 
you  let  me  go  V  "  No  !  No  !  !  No  !  !  !  "  from  every 
quarter  was  the  hearty  response.  "  And  yet  why  not 
me  as  readily  as  a  man  of  darker  skin  1  If  ever  there 
was  a  law  which  it  was  right  to  trample  upon,  it  is  this. 
You  are  counselling  revolution,  some  may  say.  Revolu 
tion  indeed  !  0,  my  fellow-citizens,  blood  has  been  flowing, 
not  in  battle-fields,  but  from  the  backs  of  our  enslaved 
countrymen  ever  since  1776,  and  is  flowing  now.  [Deep 
sensation.]  Yes,  and  that  blood  has  gone  up  to  Heaven 
and  provoked  God  against  us.  Yes,  and  blood  will  flow 
profusely  on  the  battle-fields  of  a  civil  war  if  we  carry 
out  this  accursed  law,  —  if  we  do  not  proclaim  freedom 
throughout  the  land." 

Several  other  gentlemen  addressed  the  meeting  in  a 


356  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

similar  strain ;  among  them,  Colonel  Titus,  who  said  : 
"  With  all  my  heart  I  concur  in  the  sentiments  and 
spirit  of  the  resolutions .  and  in  the  speech  of  Mr.  Ray 
mond.  I  am  for  suspending  the  operation  of  the  bill 
until  it  shall  be  repealed.  If  the  Southerners  or  their 
Northern  minions  undertake  to  enforce  its  provisions, 
and  attempt  to  carry  off  our  friend  Loguen,  or  any  other 
citizens,  I  am  prepared  to  fight  in  their  defence.  I  would 
advise  our  colored  neighbors  not  to  remove  to  Canada, 
but  to  rely  on  the  patriotism  of  the  citizens  of  Syracuse 
for  protection.  The  Assistant  United  States  Marshal  is 
in  the  hall,  and  it  is  well  to  have  him  understand  what 
are  the  real  sentiments  of  his  fellow-citizens,  which  I 
trust  will  be  found  to  be  almost  unanimous  in  favor  of 
resistance  to  this  execrable  law." 

Such  was  the  very  general  uprising  of  the  people  of 
Syracuse  in  opposition  to  the  rendition  of  fugitives  from 
slavery. 

My  own  sentiments  and  feelings  were  very  fully  de 
clared,  a  few  days  afterwards,  from  my  own  pulpit,  and 
subsequently  in  Rochester  and  Oswego.  I  trust  my 
readers  will  bear  with  a  somewhat  extended  abstract  of 
my  sermon. 

"  If  there  be  a  God,  almighty,  perfectly  wise,  and  impar 
tially  just  and  good,  his  will  ought  to  be  supreme  with  all 
moral  beings  throughout  his  universe.  To  teach  otherwise,  — 
to  teach  that  we  or  any  of  his  moral  offspring  are  bound 
or  can  be  bound  by  any  earthly  power  to  do  what  is  con 
trary  to  divine  laiv,  is  virtually  Atheism  ;  it  is  to  enthrone 
Baal  or  Mammon  in  the  place  of  Jehovah.  And  this  is  just 
what  the  people  of  this  country  are  now  called  upon  by  our  Fed 
eral  Government  to  do.  The  legislators  of  this  Republic  have 
enacted  a  law  which  offends  every  feeling  of  humanity,  sets 
at  naught  every  precept  of  the  Christian  religion,  outrages 
our  highest  sense  of  right.  And  now  they  and  their  political 
and  priestly  abettors  demand  that  we  shall  conform  to  the  re- 


DANIEL   WEBSTER.  357 

quirements  of  this  law,  because  it  was  enacted  by  the  gov 
ernment  under  which  we  live. 

"  Brethren,  are  any  of  you  ready  to  bow  and  take  this  yoke 
upon  your  necks,  and  do  the  biddings  of  these  wicked  men  ? 
I  hope  not.  You  shall  not  be,  if  I  can  convince  you  that  you 
ought  not  The  iniquity  of  our  country  has  culminated  in 
the  passage  of  this  infernal  law.  Fearful  encroachments  have 
successively  been  made  upon  our  liberties.  This  last  is  the 
worst,  the  most  daring.  If  we  yield  to  it,  all  will  be  lost. 
Our  country  will  be  given  up  to  oppressors.  There  can  be  no 
insult,  no  outrage  upon  our  moral  sense,  which  we  shall  be 
able  to  withstand ;  no  spot  on  which  we  can  raise  a  barrier  to 
the  tide  of  political  and  personal  pollution  that  must  ever 
follow  in  the  wake  of  slavery.  Our  government  will  become 
a  despotism  or  a  cruel  oligarchy,  and  our  religion  will  be  in 
effect,  if  not  in  name,  the  worship  of  Baal,  which  means  '  him 
that  subdues.'  .... 

"  This  horrible  law,  which  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century  of  the  Christian  era  the  legislators  of  the  most  highly 
favored  nation  on  earth  have  had  the  effrontery  to  enact,  —  this 
law  peremptorily,  under  heavy  fines  and  penalties,  forbids  us 
to  give  assistance  and  comfort  to  a  certain  class  of  our  fellow- 
men  in  the  utmost  need  of  help,  —  those  who  have  fled  and 
are  longing  to  be  saved  from  the  greatest  wrongs  that  can  be 
inflicted  upon  human  beings,  —  the  wrongs  of  slavery.  And 
yet  we  are  told  by  many  —  many  who  profess  to  be  Chris 
tians,  even  teachers  of  Christianity,  ah !  Doctors  of  Divinity — 
that  the  pulpit  may  not  remonstrate  against  this  tremendous 
iniquity,  because,  forsooth,  it  has  passed  into  a  law.  What, 
are  we,  then,  to  allow  that  there  is  no  authority  higher  than 
that  of  the  earthly  government  under  which  we  live,  —  a  gov 
ernment  framed  by  our  revered  but  fallible  fathers,  and  which 
we  administer  by  agents  of  our  own  election,  who  are  by  no 
means  incorruptible  ?  Has  it  come  to  this  ?  Is  this  the  best 
lesson  our  Republican  and  Christian  wisdom  can  teach  the 
suffering  nations  of  earth  ?  Nay,  are  we  to  submit  to  this 
human  authority  without  question  ?  May  we  not  so  much 
as  discuss  the  justice  of  its  demands  upon  us  ?  Must  even 
those  men  be  silent  who  were  set  in  our  midst  for  the  defence 


358  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

of  the  G-ospel,  —  the  Gospel  of  Him  who  was  i  anointed  to 
preach  to  the  poor,  who  was  sent  to  heal  the  broken-hearted, 
to  preach  deliverance  to  the  captives,  to  set  at  liberty  them 
that  are  bruised  ?  '  Such  is  the  doctrine  of  our  politicians 
and  of  our  politico-religious  ministers.  But  a  more  heartless, 
demoralizing,  base,  antidemocrat,  and  antichristian  doctrine 
could  not  be  preached.  I  repudiate  it  utterly The  pul 
pit  has  no  higher  function  than  to  expound,  assert,  and  main 
tain  the  rights  of  man.  The  assumption  of  Mr.  Webster  and 
his  abettors —  that  there  is  no  higher  law  than  an  enactment 
of  our  Congress  or  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States — is 
glaringly  atheistical,  inasmuch  as  it  denies  the  supremacy  of 
the  Divine  Author  of  the  moral  constitution  of  man 

"  It  is  a  matter  of  great  interest  to  me  personally,  that  my 
attention  was  first  powerfully  called  to  the  subject  of  slavery, 
and  my  resolution  to  do  my  duty  regarding  it,  was  first  roused 
by  Daniel  Webster,  when  he  was  a  man,  and  not  a  mere  self- 
seeking  politician.  The  first  antislavery  meeting  I  ever  at 
tended  was  one  in  which  Mr.  Webster  took  a  conspicuous 
part.  It  was  on  the  3d  of  December,  1819,  in  the  State 
House  at  Boston,  called  to  oppose  the  Missouri  Compromise. 
Then  and  there  generous,  humane,  Christian  sentiments  re 
specting  slavery  were  uttered  by  him  and  others  that  kindled 
in  my  bosom  a  warmth  of  interest  in  the  cause  of  the  op 
pressed  that  has  never  cooled.  But  the  next  year,  on  the 
22d  of  December,  1820,  a  few  days  before  I  entered  the  pul 
pit  as  a  preacher,  Mr.  Webster  delivered  his  famous  oration 
at  Plymouth.  It  was  an  admirable  exposition  of  the  rise, 
characteristics,  and  spirit  of  our  free  political  and  religious  in 
stitutions.  Towards  the  close,  having  alluded  to  slavery  and 
the  slave-trade,  he  said,  with  deep  solemnity :  '  /  invoke  the 
ministers  of  our  religion,  that  they  proclaim  its  denunciation 
of  these  crimes.  If  the  pulpit  be  silent  wherever  or  whenever 
there  may  be  a  sin  bloody  with  this  guilt  within  the  hearing  of 
its  voice,  the  pulpit  is  false  to  its  trust.1 

"  Thus  solemnly  charged  by  one  whom  I  then  revered  as  a 
good  man,  no  less  than  as  a  great  statesman,  the  following 
Sunday  I  commenced  preaching.  Tremblingly  alive  to  the 
weighty  responsibilities  I  was  about  to  incur,  I  fully  re- 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  359 

solved  that  the  pulpit  which  might  be  committed  to  my 
charge  should  not  be  silent  respecting  slavery  or  any  other 
great  public  wrong 

"  And  now,  that  same  Daniel  Webster,  who  first  roused  me 
to  feel  somewhat  as  I  ought  for  the  enslaved,  has  done  more 
than  any  other  man  to  procure  the  enactment  of  a  law,  under 
the  provisions  of  which,  if  I  do  my  duty,  and  by  my  preach 
ing  incite  others  to  do  their  duty,  to  those  who  are  in  danger 
of  being  enslaved,  I  and  they  may  be  subjected  to  unusually 
heavy  fines,  or  may  be  thrown  into  prison  as  malefactors. 
Have  I  not,  then,  a  personal  controversy  with  that  distin 
guished  man,  —  distinguished  now,  alas !  for  something  else 
than  splendid  talents  and  exalted  virtues?  If  I  have  gone 
wrong,  did  not  Mr.  Webster  misdirect  me  ?  If  I  have  done 
no  more  than  he  solemnly  charged  all  preachers  to  do,  has  he 
not  basely  deserted  and  betrayed  me  ?  Verily,  verily  I  say 
unto  you,  he  bound  the  burden  of  this  antislavery  reform, 
and  laid  it  upon  the  shoulders  of  others,  but  he  himself  has 
not  helped  to  bear  it,  —  no,  not  with  one  of  his  fingers.  Nay, 
worse,  he  has  done  all  he  could  to  prepare  the  prison,  and  to 
whet  the  sword  of  vengeance  for  those  sons  of  New  England 
who  shall  obey  the  injunction  he  gave  them  from  Plymouth 
Rock,  that  spot  hallowed  by  all  who  truly  love  liberty  and 
hate  oppression 

"  Tell  me,  then,  no  more  that  the  pulpit  has  nothing  to  do,  — 
that  I  as  a  Christian  minister  have  nothing  to  do  with  politics, 
when  I  see  how  politics  have  corrupted,  yes,  utterly  spoiled 
the  once  noble  (we  used  in  our  admiration  to  say),  godlike 
Daniel  Webster  !  If  that  man,  with  his  surpassing  strength 
of  intellect  and  once  enlarged,  generous  views  of  the  right  and 
the  good,  —  if  he  has  not  been  able  to  withstand  the  demor 
alizing  influences  of  political  partyism,  but  has  been  shrivelled 
up  into  a  mere  aspirant  for  office,  basely  consenting  to  any 
and  every  sacrifice  of  humanity  demanded  by  the  oppressors 
of  our  country,  and  at  last  pledging  himself  to  sustain  all  the 
provisions  of  a  law  more  ingeniously  wicked  than  the  stimu 
lated  fears  of  the  most  cowardly  tyrants  over  before  devised,  — 
I  repeat,  if  such  a  man  as  Daniel  Webster  once  was  has  been 
corrupted  and  ruined  by  politics,  shall  I,  a  minister  of  the 


360  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

Christian  religion,  fail  to  point  out  as  plainly  as  I  may,  and 
proclaim  as  earnestly  as  I  can,  the  moral  dangers  that  beset 
those  who  eiigage  in  the  strife  for  political  preferment  ?  .  .  .  . 

"  For  one,  I  will  not  help  to  uphold  our  nation  in  its  iniquity, 
—  no,  not  for  an  hour.  If  it  cannot  be  reclaimed,  let  it  be  dis 
solved.  The  declaration  so  often  made  by  the  professed  friends 
of  our  Union,  that  it  cannot  be  preserved  unless  this  horrible 
law  can  be  enforced,  is  unwittingly  a  declaration  that  it  is  the 
implacable  enemy  of  liberty,  —  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  hu 
man  progress.  If  it  really  be  so,  it  must  be,  it  will  be  removed. 
And  he  who  attempts  to  prevent  its  dissolution  will  find  him 
self  fighting  against  God.  If  such  a  law  as  this  for  the  recap 
ture  of  fugitive  slaves  be  essential  to  our  Republic  as  now  con 
stituted,  let  it  be  broken  up,  and  some  new  form  of  government 
arise  in  its  stead.  A  better  one  would  doubtless  succeed.  A 
worse  one  it  could  not  be,  if  the  enslavement,  continued  degra 
dation  and  outlawry  of  more  than  three  millions  of  our  people, 
be  indeed  the  bond  of  our  present  Union 

"  Suppose  that  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  States  in  this 
Union  were,  or  should  become,  idolatrous  heathen.  Suppose 
that  they  worshipped  Moloch,  or  some  other  false  deity  who 
delighted  in  human  sacrifices.  And  suppose  that,  to  propiti 
ate  the  people  of  those  States,  and  to  secure  the  pecuniary  and 
political  advantages  of  a  continued  Union  with  them,  Congress 
should  enact  that  the  people  of  the  Christian  States  should  al 
low  those  idolaters  to  come  here  when  they  pleased  and  offer 
human  sacrifices  in  our  midst,  or  carry  away  our  children  to  be 
burnt  on  their  altars  at  the  South ;  would  Mr.  Webster  or  Mr. 
Clay,  or  the  editors  of  The  New  York  Observer,  or  The  Journal 
of  Commerce,  or  the  Doctors  of  Divinity  who  have  endeavored 
to  array  the  public  on  the  side  of  wrong,  —  would  even  they 
call  upon  us  to  obey  such  a  law  ?  I  am  sure  they  would  not. 
And  yet  I  fain  would  know  wherein  such  a  law  as  I  have 
supposed  would  be  any  worse  than  this  law  which  they  are 
laboring  to  enforce Why,  then,  if  it  would  be  reason 
able  and  proper,  in  the  view  of  Mr.  Webster  and  his  reverend 
abettors,  to  nullify  a  law  requiring  us  to  permit  human  beings 
to  be  offered  as  burnt  sacrifices,  —  why  is  it  not  equally  reason 
able  and  proper  for  us  to  set  at  naught  this  law  which  commands 


DANIEL   WEBSTER.  361 

us  to  do  something  worse,  —  that  is,  to  assist  in  reducing  hu 
man  beings  to  the  condition  of  domesticated  bru:  ^s?  .... 
Nay,  further,  I  insisted  that  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  violates 
the  religious  liberty,  interferes  with  the  faith  and  worship  of 
Christians,  just  as  much  as  the  law  I  have  supposed  would  do. 
....  A  law  of  the  land  requiring  you,  as  this  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  does,  to  disobey  the  Golden  Rule  is,  indeed,  a  far  more 
grievous  encroachment  upon  your  liberty  of  conscience  than 
a  law  prescribing  to  your  faith  any  creed,  or  any  rites  and 
ceremonies  by  which  you  must  worship  God 

"Fellow-citizens !  Christian  brethren !  the  time  has  come 
that  is  to  test  our  principles,  to  try  our  souls.  I  would  not 
that  any  one  in  this  emergency  should  trust  to  his  own  un 
aided  strength.  Let  us  fervently  pray  for  wisdom  to  direct 
us,  and  for  fortitude  to  do  whatever  may  be  demanded  at  our 
hands,  by  the  Royal  Law,  —  the  Golden  Rule 

u  I  would  counsel  prudence,  although  this  evil  day  demands 

of  us  courage  and  self-sacrifice We  should  spare  no 

pains  through  the  press,  by  conversation,  and  by  public  ad 
dresses,  particularly  by  faithful  discourses  from  the  pulpits,  to 
cherish  and  quicken  the  sense  of  right  and  the  love  of  liberty 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  A  correct  public  sentiment  is  our 
surest  safeguard 

"  Do  you  inquire  of  me  by  what  means  you  ought  to  with 
stand  the  execution  of  this  diabolical  law  ?  It  is  not  for  me 
to  determine  the  action  of  any  one  but  myself.  '  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,'  is  the  second  great  command 
which  all  should  faithfully  try  to  obey.  Every  man  and  wo 
man  among  you  is  bound,  as  I  am,  to  do  for  the  protection  or 
rescue  of  a  fugitive  from  slavery  what,  in  your  hearts  before 
God,  you  believe  it  would  be  right  for  you  to  do  in  behalf  of 
your  own  life  or  liberty,  or  that  of  a  member  of  your  family. 
If  you  are  fully  persuaded  that  it  would  be  right  for  you  to 
maim  or  kill  the  kidnapper  who  had  laid  hands  upon  your 
wife,  son,  or  daughter,  or  should  be  attempting  to  drag  your 
self  away  to  be  enslaved,  I  see  not  how  you  can  excuse  your 
self  from  helping,  by  the  same  degree  of  violence,  to  rescue 
the  fugitive  slave  from  the  like  outrage 

"  Before  all  men,  I  declare  that  you  are,  every  one  of  you, 
16 


362  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

under  the  highest  obligation  to  disobey  this  law,  —  nay,  oppose 
to  the  utmost  the  execution  of  it.  If  you  know  of  no  better 
way  to  do  this  than  by  force  and  arms,  then  are  you  bound  to 
use  force  and  arms  to  prevent  a  fellow -being  from  being  en 
slaved.  There  never  was,  there  cannot  be,  a  more  righteous 
cause  for  revolution  than  the  demands  made  upon  us  by  this 
law.  It  would  make  you  kidnappers,  men-stealers,  blood 
hounds 

"  It  is  known  that  I  have  been  and  am  a  preacher  of  the 
'  doctrine  of  non-resistance.'  I  believe  it  to  be  one  of  the 
distinctive  doctrines  of  Christianity.  But  I  have  never  pre 
sumed  to  affirm  that  I  possessed  enough  of  the  spirit  of  Christ, 
—  enough  confidence  in  God  and  man,  —  enough  moral  cour 
age  and  self-command  to  act  in  accordance  with  the  Gospel 
precept  in  the  treatment  of  enemies.  But  there  is  not  a  doubt  in 
my  heart  that,  if  I  should  be  enabled  to  speak  and  act  as  Jesus 
would,  I  should  produce  afar  greater  and  better  effect  than  could 

be  wrought  by  clubs,  or  swords,  or  any  deadly  weapons 

I  shall  go  to  the  rescue  of  any  one  I  may  hear  is  in  danger,  not 
intending  to  harm  the  cruel  men  who  may  be  attempting  to  kid 
nap  him.  I  shall  take  no  weapon  of  violence  along  with  me,  not 
even  the  cane  that  I  usually  wear.  I  shall  go,  praying  that 
I  may  say  and  do  what  will  smite  the  hearts  rather  than  the 
bodies  of  the  impious  claimants  of  property  in  human  beings, — 
pierce  their  consciences  rather  than  their  flesh 

"  Fellow-citizens,  fellow-men,  fellow-Christians  !  the  hour  is 
come  !  A  stand  must  be  taken  against  the  ruthless  oppress 
ors  of  our  country.  Resistants  and  non-resistants  have  now 
a  work  to  do  that  may  task  to  the  utmost  the  energies  of  their 
souls.  We  owe  it  to  the  millions  who  are  wearing  out  a  mis 
erable  existence  under  the  yoke  of  slavery  ;  we  owe  it  to  the 
memory  of  our  fathers  who  solemnly  pledged  their  lives,  their 
fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor  to  the  cause  of  liberty ;  we 
owe  it  to  the  expectations,  the  claims  of  oppressed  and  suf 
fering  men  the  world  over;  we  owe  it  to  ourselves,  if  we 
would  be  true  men  and  not  the  menials  of  tyrants,  to  trample 
this  Fugitive  Slave  Law  under  foot,  and  throw  it  indignantly 
back  at  the  wicked  legislators  who  had  the  hardihood  to 
enact  it." 


DANIEL   WEBSTER.  3G3 

It  was  obvious  enough  that  some  parts  of  the  dis 
course  were  not  relished  by  quite  a  number  of  my  audi 
tors.  Several  seemed  to  be  seriously  offended.  It  is 
therefore  to  be  cherished  among  my  many  grateful  recol 
lections  that,  as  I  was  coming  down  from  the  pulpit  the 
late  Major  James  E.  Heron,  of  the  United  States  Army, 
then  one  of  the  prominent  members  of  our  society,  came 
up  to  me  glowing  with  emotion,  gave  me  his  hand,  and 
said,  quite  audibly  :  "  Mr.  May,  I  thank  you.  I  was 
once  a  slaveholder.  I  know  all  about  the  Southern  sys 
tem  of  domestic  servitude.  I  am  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  principles  of  the  slaveholders,  and  the  condition 
of  their  bondmen.  You  have  never  in  my  hearing  ex 
aggerated  the  wrongs  and  the  vices  inherent  in  the  sys 
tem.  You  cannot  overstate  them.  And  the  bold  at 
tempt  which  is  now  making  to  subjugate  the  people  of 
the  Northern  States  to  the  will  and  service  of  the  slave 
holders  ought  to  be  resisted  to  the  last."  He  must  have 
been  heard  by  many.  His  words  were  repeated  about 
the  city,  and  his  full  indorsement  of  my  antislavery 
fanaticism  helped  to  make  it  much  more  tolerable,  in  the 
regards  of  some  who  were  ready  to  revolt  from  it. 

The  Vigilance  Committee  appointed  on  the  4th  of 
October,  and  the  Association  we  formed  on  the  12th,  to 
co-operate  with  that  committee,  and  to  bear  mutually 
the  expenses  that  might  be  incurred  in  resisting  the  law, 
kept  the  attention  of  our  citizens  alive  to  the  subject. 
And  their  interest  was  quickened  and  their  determina 
tion  confirmed  by  the  reports  that  came  to  us  from  Bos 
ton,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  many  other  places,  of 
the  preparations  that  were  making  to  protect  the  colored 
people,  and  set  at  defiance  the  plan  for  their  re-enslave 
ment.  The  historian  of  our  country,  if  he  be  one 
worthy  of  the  task,  will  linger  with  delight  over  the 
pages  on  which  he  shall  narrate  the  uprising  of  the  peo- 


364  ANTISL AVERT   CONFLICT. 

pie  generally,  in  1850  and  1851,  throughout  the  North 
ern  States,  in  opposition  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 
There  were  not  wanting  fearless  preachers  who  took  up 
the  arms  of  the  Gospel  and  faithfully  fought  against  the 
great  unrighteousness.  Only  a  few  days  after  the  in 
famous  speech  of  Mr.  Webster  on  the  7th  of  March, 
Theodore  Parker  addressed  a  crowded  audience  in 
Faneuil  Hall,  and  exposed  to  their  deeper  abhorrence  the 
atrocious  provisions  of  the  Bill  which  the  Massachusetts 
senator  had  had  the  effrontery  to  advocate  and  pledge 
himself  to  maintain.  On  the  22d  of  September  follow 
ing  he  preached  to  his  hearers  in  the  Melodeon  a  thrill- 
in^  discourse  on  "  The  Function  and  Place  of  Conscience 

O 

in  Relation  to  the  Laws  of  Men,"  which  must  have  fired 
them  all  the  more  to  stand  to  the  death  in  defence  of 
any  human  being  who  had  sought,  or  should  seek,  an 
asylum  in  Massachusetts.  And  again  on  the  28th  of 
November,  1850,  the  day  of  annual  Thanksgiving,  he 
delivered  his  comprehensive,  deep-searching  discourse 
on  "  The  State  of  the  Nation,"  showing  the  reckless  im 
piety  of  rulers  who  could  frame  such  unrighteousness 
into  law,  and  the  folly  of  the  people  who  could  suppose 
themselves  bound  to  obey  such  a  law.  Oh  !  if  the  min 
isters  of  religion  generally,  throughout  our  country,  had 
said  and  done,  before  and  after  that  date,  a  tithe  as 
much  as  Mr.  Parker  said  and  did  against  the  "  great 
iniquity  "  of  our  nation,  the  slaveholders  could  never 
have  gained  such  an  ascendency  in  our  Government, 
nor  have  become  so  inflated  with  the  idea  of  their 
power,  as  to  have  attempted  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union,  which  it  cost  all  the  blood  and  treasure  expend 
ed  in  our  awful  civil  war  to  preserve.  Mr.  Parker  was 
not  indeed  left  alone  to  fight  the  battle  of  the  Lord. 
Rev.  Dr.  Storrs,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Rev.  G.  W.  Perkins, 
of  Guilford,  Conn.,  Rev.  J.  G.  Forman,  of  West  Bridge- 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  365 

water,  Rev.  Charles  Beccher,  Rev.  William  C.  Whitcomb, 
of  Stoneham,  Rev.  Nathaniel  West,  of  Pittsburg,  each 
spoke  and  wrote  words  of  sound  truth  and  great  power, 
as  well  as  those  whose  services  I  have  acknowledged  in 
another  place,  and  others  no  doubt  whose  names  have 
escaped  my  memory.  But  of  the  thirty  thousand  min 
isters  of  all  the  denominations  in  the  United  States,  I 
believe  not  one  in  a  hundred  ever  raised  his  voice  against 
the  enslavement  of  millions  of  our  countrymen,  nor  lifted 
a  finger  to  protect  one  who  had  escaped  from  bondage. 
And  many,  very  many  of  the  clergy  openly  and  vehe 
mently  espoused  the  cause  of  the  oppressors.  Not  only 
did  the  preachers  in  the  slaveholding  States,  with 
scarcely  an  exception,  justify  and  defend  the  institution 
of  slavery,  but  there  were  many  ministers  in  the  free 
States  who  took  sides  with  them.  The  most  distin 
guished  in  this  bad  company  were  Professor  Stuart,  of 
Andover,  Dr.  Lord,  President  of  Dartmouth  College, 
New  Hampshire,  Bishop  Hopkins,  of  Burlington,  Vt., 
and  Rev.  Dr.  Nehemiah  Adams,  of  Boston.  But  I 
must  refer  my  readers  to  the  books  mentioned  at  the 
bottom  of  page  349,  if  they  would  know  how  "  the  or 
thodox  and  evangelical "  ministers  of  the  free  States  con 
tributed  their  influence  to  uphold  "  the  peculiar  institu 
tion  of  the  South."  And  it  must  be  left  for  the  future 
historian  of  our  Republic  in  the  nineteenth  century  to 
tell  to  posterity  how  fearfully  the  American  Church  and 
ninety-nine  hundredths  of  the  ministers  were  subjugated 
to  the  will  and  behest  of  our  slaveholding  oligarchy.  My 
purpose  is  to  give,  for  the  most  part,  only  my  personal 
recollections.  And  on  this  point,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  they 
are  numerous  aud  mortifying  enough. 


366  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 


THE  UNITARIANS  AND  THEIR  MINISTERS. 

When  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  was  first  promulgated, 
there  was,  as  I  have  stated,  a  very  general  outburst  of 
indignation  throughout  the  North, —  a  feeling  of  dreadful 
shame,  a  sense  of  a  most  bitter  insult.  The  first  im 
pulse  of  the  Unitarians,  as  of  others,  was  to  denounce  it. 
At  their  autumnal  convention  in  Springfield,  October, 
1850,  they  did  so,  though  not  without  strong  opposition 
to  any  vote  or  action  on  the  subject.  Probably  the  op- 
posers  would  have  prevailed,  and  the  law  have  been  left 
unrebuked,  had  not  that  venerable  man,  the  late  Rev.  Dr. 
Willard,  of  Deerfi eld,  risen  and  earnestly  — yes,  solemnly 
—  protested  against  passing  lightly  over  a  matter  of  such 
fearful  importance.  Dr.  Willard  was  old,  and  had  long 
been  blind.  Would  to  God  that  the  moral  sight  of  many 
of  his  younger  ministerial  brethren  had  been  half  as  clear 
and  pure  as  his !  With  tremulous  eloquence  he  called 
upon  them  to  reconsider  their  motion.  He  appealed  to 
their  pity  for  men  and  women  over  whom  was  impending 
the  greatest  calamity  that  could  befall  human  beings.  He 
appealed  to  their  regard  for  the  honor  of  their  country, 
and  besought  them  to  avert  her  shame,  by  doing  what 
they  might  to  show  the  world,  that  it  was  the  statesmen 
and  politicians,  not  the  people  of  the  Northern  States, 
who  approved  of  this  wicked,  cruel  law.  His  words  roused 
others,  who  spoke  to  the  same  effect ;  and  so  that  Con 
vention  was  persuaded  to  adopt  resolutions  condemning 
the  law.  But  quite  a  number  of  the  prominent  ministers 
of  the  denomination  soon  after  gave  strong  utterance  to 
an  opposite  opinion.  I  need  mention  but  three.  Rev. 
Dr.  Lunt,  of  Quincy,  preached  a  discourse  on  the  "  Divine 
Right  of  Government,"  in  which  he  endeavored  to  bring 
his  hearers  to  the  conclusion  that,  "  wise,  practical  men 
would  allow  the  laws  of  the  land,  which  have  been  enact- 


THE  UNITARIANS  AND   THEIR  MINISTERS.        367 

cd  in  due  form,  to  have  their  course  and  be  executed, 
until  we  can  so  far  change  the  current  of  public  opinion 
that  what  is  obj Actionable  in  those  laws  may  be  correct 
ed."  He  conceded,  indeed,  that  "  there  are  cases  when 
rulers  may  be  rightfully  resisted,  and  when  revolution  is 
a  duty;  yet  these  are  extreme  cases,  and  require  for 
their  justification  the  most  imperative  necessity."  He 
said  this  all  unconscious,  it  would  seem,  that  such  an 
extreme  case  was  upon  us ;  unconscious,  and  leaving 
his  hearers  unconscious,  that  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law 
must  be  resisted,  or  the  people  of  Massachusetts  would 
consent  to  become  menials  of  the  slaveholders,  kidnap 
pers,  robbers  of  men,  bloodhounds. 

The  excellent  Dr.  E.  S.  Gannett,  of  Boston,  was  heard 
to  say,  more  than  once,  very  emphatically,  and  to  justify 
it,  "  that  he  should  feel  it  to  be  his  duty  to  turn  away 
from  his  door  a  fugitive  slave,  —  unfed,  unaided  in  any 
way,  rather  than  set  at  naught  the  law  of  the  land." 

And  Rev.  Dr.  Dewey,  whom  we  accounted  one  of  the 
ablest  expounders  and  most  eloquent  defenders  of  our 
Unitarian  faith,  —  Dr.  Dewey  was  reported  to  have  said 
at  two  different  times,  in  public  lectures  or  speeches  dur 
ing  the  fall  of  1850  and  the  winter  of  1851,  that  "  he 
would  send  his  mother  into  slavery,  rather  than  endanger 
the  Union,  by  resisting  this  law  enacted  by  the  consti 
tuted  government  of  the  nation."  He  has  often  denied 
that  he  spoke  thus  of  his  "  maternal  relative,"  and  there 
fore  I  allow  that  he  was  misunderstood.  But  he  has 
repeatedly  acknowledged  that  he  did  say,  "  I  would  con 
sent  that  my  own  brother,  my  own  son,  should  go,  ten 
times  rather  would  I  go  myself  into  slavery,  than  that 
this  Union  should  be  sacrificed."  The  rhetoric  of  this 
sentence  may  be  less  shocking,  but  the  principle  that 
underlies  it  is  equally  immoral  and  demoralizing.  It  is, 
that  the  inalienable,  God-given  rights  of  man  ought  to 


368  ANTISL AVERT   CONFLICT. 

be  violated,  outraged,  rather  than  overturn  or  seriously 
endanger  a  human  institution  called  a  government. 

Although  our  denomination  at  that  time  was  numer 
ically  a  very  small  one,  yet  it  was  so  prominent,  not  only 
in  Boston  and  its  immediate  vicinity,  but  before  the 
whole  nation,  and  in  view  of  all  the  world,  that  it  seemed 
to  me  to  be  a  matter  of  great  moral  consequence  that 
it  should  take  and  maintain  a  truly  Christian  stand  re 
specting  this  high-handed,  glaring  attempt  to  bring  our 
Ndrthern  free  States  into  entire  subjection  to  the  slave- 
holding  oligarchy.  Therefore,  at  the  next  annual  meet 
ing  of  the  American  Unitarian  Association,  in  May,  1851, 
I  offered  the  following  Preamble  and  Resolution  :  — 


"  Whereas,  his  Excellency,  Millard  Fillmore,  whose  official 
signature  made  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill  a  law,  is  a  Unitarian  ; 
and  the  Hon.  Daniel  Webster,  who  exerted  all  his  official  and 
personal  influence  to  procure  the  passage  of  that  bill,  has 
been  until  recently,  if  he  is  not  now,  a  member  of  a  Unitarian 
church ;  and  whereas,  one  of  the  only  three  Representatives 
from  New  England,  who  voted  for  that  bill,  is  the  Hon.  S.  A. 
Eliot,  a  distinguished  Unitarian  of  Boston,  known  to  have 
been  educated  for  the  Unitarian  ministry  ;  and  whereas,  the 
present  representative  of  the  United  States  Government  at 
the  Court  of  the  British  Empire  is  a  Unitarian,  and  his  two 
immediate  predecessors  were  once  preachers  of  this  Gospel, 
and  one  of  them,  Hon.  Edward  Everett,  has  publicly  declared 
his  approval  of  Mr.  Webster's  course  touching  this  most 
wicked  law  ;  and  whereas,  the  Hon.  Jared  Sparks,  President 
of  Harvard  College,  and  President  of  the  Divinity  School  at 
Cambridge,  formerly  a  distinguished  minister,  and  a  very 
elaborate  and  able  expounder  of  our  distinctive  doctrines,  is 
one  of  the  number  who  addressed  a  letter  to  Mr.  Webster, 
commending  him  for  what  he  had  said  and  done  in  behalf  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law ;  and  still  more,  because  the  late  President 
of  this  American  Unitarian  Association  (Dr.  Dewey),  one  of 
the  most  popular  preachers,  expounders,  and  champions  of 
the  Unitarian  faith,  has  been  more  earnest  and  emphatic  than 


THE  UNITARIANS  AND  THEIR  MINISTERS.        369 

any  man  in  his  asseveration  that  this  law,  infernal  as  it  is, 
ought  nevertheless  to  be  obeyed ;  and  because  the  gentleman 
who  this  day  retires  from  the  highest  position  in  our  ecclesi 
astical  body,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Gannett,  is  understood  to  have 
given  his  adhesion  to  this  lowest  of  all  laws,  and  several  of 
the  distinguished,  titled  ministers  of  our  denomination  in  and 
near  Boston,  the  head-quarters  of  Unitarians,  have  preached 
obedience  to  this  law,  — 

"  We,  therefore,  feel  especially  called  upon  by  the  highest 
considerations,  at  this,  the  first  general  gathering  of  our  body, 
since  the  above-named  exposures  of  the  unsoundness  of  our 
members,  to  declare  in  the  most  public  and  emphatic  manner 
that  we  consider  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  a  most  fearful  vio 
lation  of  the  law  of  God,  as  taught  by  Jesus  Christ  and  his 
apostles,  and,  therefore,  all  obedience  to  it  is  practical  infi 
delity  to  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  the  Christian  faith,  and 
to  the  impartial  Father  of  the  whole  human  family. 

"  Resolved,  Therefore,  that  we,  the  American  Unitarian 
Association,  earnestly  exhort  all  who  would  honor  the  Chris 
tian  name,  but  especially  all  who  have  embraced  with  us 
views  of  human  nature  similar  to  those  held  up  by  our 
revered  Channing,  —  to  remember  those  in  bonds  as  bound 
with  them ;  ever  to  attempt  to  do  for  them,  as  we  would 
that  the  now  enslaved  or  fugitive  should  do  for  us  in  an 
exchange  of  circumstances,  —  to  comfort  and  aid  them  in  all 
their  attempts  to  escape  from  their  oppressors,  and  by  no  means 
to  betray  the  fugitives,  or  in  any  way  assist  or  give  the  least 
countenance  to  the  cruel  men  who  would  return  them  to 
slavery." 

Both  the  Preamble  and  Resolutions  were  cordially 
seconded  by  Rev.  Theodore  Parker,  and  their  adoption 
urged  in  a  brief  but  most  significant  speech.  The  mo 
ment  he  had  ceased  speaking  Henry  Fuller,  Esq.,  of 
Boston,  sprang  to  his  feet,  and,  in  an  impassioned  man 
ner,  moved  that  the  paper  just  read  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
May,  of  Syracuse,  be  not  even  received  by  the  Associa 
tion.  "  This  ecclesiastical  body  had  nothing  to  do  with 
such  a  political  matter.  The  entertaining  of  the  subject/ 
16*  x 


370  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

here  would  be  indecorous,  and  only  help  to  increase  the 
alienation  of  feeling  between  the  South  and  the  North." 
With  equal  warmth  of  manner  and  speech  Rev.  Joseph 
Richardson,  of  Hingham,  seconded  Mr.  Fuller's  motion, 
and  cut  off  all  debate  by  calling  for  the  "  previous  ques 
tion."  So  the  motion  not  to  receive  my  paper  was  put, 
and  carried  by  twenty-seven  to  twenty-two. 

The  next  day,  at  a  meeting  of  the  "  Ministerial  Con 
ference,"  which  comprised  all  the  clerical  members  of 
the  American  Unitarian  Association,  I  proposed  for 
adoption  the  same  Preamble  and  Resolution,  and  am 
happy  to  add,  with  a  much  more  gratifying  result.  The 
following  is  a  very  brief  report  of  the  discussion  and 
action  of  that  body,  taken  from  The  Commonwealth  of 
June  2,  1851  :  — 

"  Rev.  Mr.  Judd,  of  Augusta,  Me.,  thought  it  the  duty  of 
the  clergy  to  speak  freely  upon  the  question  of  slavery,  but 
with  perfect  plainness  to  all  parties.  He  approved  of  the  sen 
timent  of  the  resolve,  but  disliked  the  preamble,  as  too  per 
sonal  in  its  language. 

Rev.  Mr.  May,  of  Syracuse.  N.  Y.,  said  reference  was  made 
in  the  resolve  to  those  only  whom  the  Conference  had  a  right 
to  mention,  namely,  prominent  Unitarians  who  had  sustained 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 

"  Rev.  Dr.  Hall,  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  thought  that,  as  citi 
zens,  as  Unitarians,  and  as  Christians,  they  were  called  upon 
to  speak  in  opposition  to  the  law,  but  the  right  place  should 
be  selected,  in  order  that  no  false  impression  should  be  given 
in  case  the  topic  should  not  be  acted  upon.  For  himself,  he 
should  not  obey  the  law,  though  the  country  went  to  pieces. 

"  Rev.  Mr.  Parker,  of  Boston,  read  extracts  from  an  Eng 
lish  paper,  showing  the  action  of  an  ecclesiastical  body  abroad 
that  had  resolved  not  to  countenance  or  admit  to  its  pulpits 
any  of  the  American  clergy  who  uphold  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  or  slavery. 

"  Rev.  Mr.  Holland,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  deemed  obedience 
to  the  law  a  violation  of  conscience  and  duty.  His  voice  and 
prayer  were  for  progress  and  liberty. 


THE  UNITARIANS  AND   THEIR  MINISTERS.        371 

"  Rev.  Mr.  Frost,  of  Concord,  Mass.,  had  had  a  committee 
of  his  society  ask  him  to  abstain  I  ruin  preaching  on  slavery 
thenceforth.  He  replied,  that  when  the  slave  power  had 
taken  possession  of  the  departments  of  Government,  con 
trolled  the  decisions  of  our  courts,  and  influenced  the  moral 
position  of  the  Church  itself,  glossing  over  all  the  iniquities  of 
the  system,  he  should  not  keep  silence.  Obedience  to  the 
Fugitive  Law  was  treason  to  God ;  he  preferred  to  be  dis 
loyal  to  man. 

"  Rev.  William  H.  Channing,  of  New  York  City,  thought 
the  Church  should  take  common  ground  against  this  national 
sin.  But  to  the  slaveholder  he  would  be  fair  and  candid. 
He  would  meet  him  in  conclave,  show  him  the  evils  of  slav 
ery,  the  worth  of  freedom,  and  join  with  him  in  removing  the 
willing  free  colored  population  to  the  lands  of  the  West,  and 
as  a  remuneration  give  them  the  blessings  of  free  labor  and 
social  prosperity. 

"  Rev.  Mr.  Osgood,  of  New  York  City,  admitted  the  iniqui 
ty  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  the  sin  of  slavery,  and 
thought  them  proper  subjects  for  pulpit  discussion ;  but  he 
wanted  a  moral  influence  to  be  exerted,  without  a  violation 
of  Christian  gentleness.  He  said  Rev.  Mr.  Furness,  of  Phila 
delphia,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Dewey,  of  New  York,  had  had  a  cor 
respondence  in  reference  to  the  latter's  position  on  political 
questions,  and  he  (Mr.  Osgood)  honestly  believed,  from  the 
results  of  that  correspondence,  and  from  conversations  he 
himself  had  held  with  the  Doctor,  that,  in  his  support  of  the 
Slave  Law,  he  was  making  self-sacrifice  to  what  he  conceived 
his  duty. 

"  Rev.  Mr.  Pierpont,  of  Medford,  proclaimed  the  superiority 
of  God's  law  to  man's  law.  He  would  not  obey  the  latter 
when  it  interfered  with  the  former.  The  government  might 
fine  and  imprison,  but  it  could  do  no  more  ;  he  was  mindful 
of  the  penalty,  but  he  would  not  obey.  If  all  would  act  with 
him  the  law  would  fail  of  being  executed. 

"  Rev.  Dr.  Gannett,  of  Boston,  was  impressed  with  the  im 
mensity  of  this  question,  the  terrible  aw  fulness  that  lay  behind 
it,  and  he  would  discuss  it  with  all  solemnity  and  seriousness 
in  view  of  the  impending  evil.  He  believed  in  his  heart  the 


372  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

maintenance  of  gorernment,  the  comfort  of  the  people,  and 
the  perpetuity  of  our  Union  depended  on  the  support  of  the 
Fugitive  Law.  He  would  not  have  the  subject  treated  light 
ly,  but  prayerfully,  fearfully,  in  view  of  the  great  responsibili 
ties  resting  upon  it.  We  should  respect  private  convictions, 
and  allow  the  integrity  of  motives  of  those  who  differ  with  us. 

"  Rev.  Mr.  Ellis,  of  Charlestown,  hailed  that  day  as  the  first 
when  these  differences  had  been  rightly  discussed.  But  if  the 
Conference,  comprising  members  of  different  though  honest 
views,  should  take  ground  -on  this  question,  he  should  leave 
it.  As  an  organized  body  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  it. 
No  action  could  be  binding,  and  he  was  unwilling  to  have 
the  Conference  interfere  with  the  question.  He  had  himself 
ever  entertained  ultra-abolition  views,  and  did  now  ;  but  he 
had  no  such  fears  for  the  Union  as  Brother  Gannett.  If  the 
Union  was  held  together  by  so  feeble  a  tenure  as  here  present 
ed,  he  thought  it  was  not  worth  saving ;  and  further,  if  our 
Northern  land  is  to  be  the  scouring-ground  of  slave-hunters, 
the  sooner  the  Union  was  sundered  the  better.  But  our 
sphere  of  action  did  not  allow  interference  with  the  question. 

"  Dr.  Gannett  spoke  of  the  character  of  that  parishioner  of 
his  who  returned  a  slave  (Curtis).  He  had  done  so  from 
convictions  of  his  constitutional  obligations  as  an  upholder  of 
law  and  as  a  good  citizen,  and  he  esteemed  that  a  wrong  was 
done  him  in  stigmatizing  him  as  a  '  cruel '  man,  because  of 
that  return,  as  the  resolution  expressed  it. 

"  On  motion  of  Mr.  Pierpont,  the  word  'cruel'  was  stricken 
out,  and  the  resolution  having  been  previously  altered  so  as 
to  make  it  a  proposition  for  discussion  rather  than  as  a  test 
for  votes,  it  was  entered  upon  the  records. 

"  The  debate  (of  which  I  have  given  a  very  limited  sketch) 
here  terminated  by  general  consent,  the  feeling  being  almost 
unanimous  as  expressed  by  the  majority  of  the  speakers." 

But  the  Unitarians  as  a  body  were  by  no  means  re 
deemed  from  the  moral  thraldom  in  which  the  whole 
nation  was  held.  There  was  still  among  them  so  little 
heartfelt  abhorrence  of  slavery  and  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law,  that  the  year  after  Mr.  Fillmore  was  dropped  from 


THE  RESCUE  OF  JERRY.          373 

the  presidency  of  the  nation,  which  he  had  so  dishonored, 
he  was  specially  invited  to  preside  at  the  Annual  Festival 
of  the  I  nitarians,  to  be  given,  if  I  remember  correctly, 
in  Faneuil  Hall.  He  declined  the  honor  proffered  him, 
but  our  denomination  was  left  to  bear  the  shame  of  hav 
ing  asked  him  to  receive  an  expression  of  our  respect, 
as  there  was  no  protest  against  the  action  of  the  Com 
mittee. 


THE    RESCUE    OF    JERRY. 

I  should  love  to  tell  of  the  generous,  daring,  self- 
sacrificing  conflicts  with  the  abettors  and  minions  of  the 
slaveholders  in  different  parts  of  our  country.  But  I 
must  leave  those  bright  pages  to  be  written  by  the  his 
torian  of  those  times,  and  confine  myself  to  that  part  of 
the  field  where  I  saw  and  was  engaged  in  the  fight. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  summer  of  1851  Mr.  Web 
ster  travelled  quite  extensively  about  the  country,  ex 
erting  all  his  personal  and  official  influence,  and  the 
remnants  of  his  eloquence,  to  persuade  the  people  to 
yield  themselves  to  the  requirements  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law.  On  the  5th  or  6th  of  June  he  came  to 
Syracuse.  He  stood  in  a  small  balcony  overlooking  the 
yard  in  front  of  our  City  Hall  and  the  intervening  street. 
Of  course  he  had  a  large  audience.  But  his  hearers 
generally  were  disappointed  in  his  appearance  and 
speech,  and  those  who  were  not  already  members  of  the 
proslavery  party  were  much  offended  at  his  authorita 
tive,  dictatorial,  commanding  tones  and  language.  There 
is  no  need  that  I  should  give  an  abstract  of  what  he 
said.  It  was  but  a  rehash  of  his  infamous  speech  in 
Congress  on  the  7th  of  March,  1850.  At  or  near  the 
close  he  said,  in  his  severest  manner,  "  Those  persons  in 
this  city  who  mean  to  oppose  the  execution  of  the  Fugi- 


374  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

live  Slave  Law  are  traitors  !  traitors  !  !  traitors  ! !  !  This 
law  ought  to  be  obeyed,  and  it  will  be  enforced,  —  yes, 
it  shall  be  enforced  ;  in  the  city  of  Syracuse  it  shall  be 
enforced,  and  that,  too,  in  the  midst  of  the  next  anti slav 
ery  Convention,  if  then  there  shall  be  any  occasion  to 
enforce  it."  Indignation  flashed  from  many  eyes  in  that 
assembly,  and  one  might  almost  hear  the  gritting  of 
teeth  in  defiance  of  the  threat. 

I  stated  on  page  354  that  at  the  meeting  on  the 
12th  of  October,  1850,  we  commenced  an  association 
to  co-operate  and  to  bear  one  another's  burdens  in  de 
fence  of  any  among  us  who  should  be  arrested  as  slaves. 
Many  came  into  our  agreement.  We  fixed  upon  a  ren 
dezvous,  and  agreed  that  any  one  of  our  number,  who 
might  know  or  hear  of  a  person  in  danger,  should  toll 
the  bell  of  an  adjoining  meeting-house  in  a  particular 
manner,  and  that,  on  hearing  that  signal,  we  would  all  re 
pair  at  once  to  the  spot,  ready  to  do  and  to  dare  what 
ever  might  seem  to  be  necessary.  Two  or  three  times 
in  the  ensuing  twelve  months  the  alarm  was  given,  but 
the  cause  for  action  was  removed  by  the  time  we  reached 
our  rendezvous,  excepting  in  one  case,  when  it  was 
thought  advisable  to  send  a  guard  to  protect  a  threat 
ened  man  to  Auburn  or  Rochester. 

But  on  the  first  day  of  October,  1851,  a  real  and,  as 
it  proved  to  be,  a  signal  case  was  given  us.  Whether  it 
was  given  on  that  day  intentionally  to  fulfil  Mr.  Web 
ster's  prediction  is  known  only  to  those  who  have  not 
yet  divulged  the  secret.  There  was,  however,  on  that 
day  an  antislavery  convention  in  Syracuse,  and,  moreover, 
a  meeting  of  the  County  Agricultural  Society,  so  that  our 
city  was  unusually  full  of  people,  which  proved  to  be 
favorable  to  our  enterprise. 

Just  as  I  was  about  to  rise  from  my  dinner  on  that 
day  I  heard  the  signal-bell,  and  hurried  towards  the  ap- 


THE   RESCUE   OF  JERRY.  375 

pointed  place,  nearly  a  mile  from  my  home.  But  I  had 
not  gone  half-way  before  I  met  the  report  that  Jerry 
McHenry  had  been  claimed  as  a  slave,  arrested  by  the 
police,  and  taken  to  the  office  of  the  Commissioner.  So 
I  turned  my  steps  thither.  The  nearer  I  got  to  the 
place,  the  more  persons  I  met,  all  excited,  many  of  them 
infuriated  by  the  thought  that  a  man  among  us  was  to 
be  carried  away  into  slavery. 

Jerry  was  an  athletic  mulatto,  who  had  been  residing 
in  Syracuse  for  a  number  of  years,  and  working  quite 
expertly,  it  was  said,  as  a  cooper.  I  found  him  in  the 
presence  of  the  Commissioner  with  the  District  Attor 
ney,  who  was  conducting  the  trial,  —  a  one-sided  process, 
in  which  the  agent  of  the  claimant  alone  was  to  be 
heard  in  proof,  that  the  prisoner  was  an  escaped  slave 
belonging  to  a  Mr.  Reynolds,  of  Missouri.  The  doomed 
man  was  not  to  be  allowed  to  state  his  own  case,  nor 
refute  the  testimony  of  his  adversary,  however  false  it 
might  be.  While  we  were  attending  to  the  novel  pro 
ceedings,  Jerry,  not  being  closely  guarded,  slipped  out 
of  the  room  under  the  guidance  of  a  young  man  of  more 
zeal  than  discretion,  and  in  a  moment  was  in  the  street 
below.  The  crowd  cheered  and  made  way  for  him,  but 
no  vehicle  having  been  provided  to  help  his  escape,  he 
was  left  to  depend  upon  his  agility  as  a  runner.  Being 
manacled,  he  could  not  do  his  best ;  but  he  had  got  off 
nearly  half  a  mile,  before  the  police  officers  and  their 
partisans  overtook  him.  I  was  not  there  to  witness  the 
meeting ;  but  it  was  said  the  rencounter  was  a  furious 
one.  Jerry  fought  like  a  tiger,  but  fought  against  over 
whelming  odds.  He  was  attacked  behind  and  before 
and  soon  subdued.  He  was  battered  and  bruised,  his 
clothes  sadly  torn  and  bloody,  and  one  rib  cracked,  if 
not  broken.  In  this  plight  he  was  thrown  upon  a  car 
man's  wagon,  two  policemen  sat  upon  him,  one  across 


376  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

his  legs,  the  other  across  his  body,  and  thus  confined  he 
was  brought  down  through  the  centre  of  the  city,  and 
put  into  a  back  room  of  the  police  office,  the  whole 
2iosse  being  gathered  there  to  guard  him.  The  people, 
citizens  and  strangers,  were  alike  indignant.  As  I  passed 
amongst  them  I  heard  nothing  but  execrations  and 
threats  of  release.  Two  or  three  times  men  came  to  me 
and  said,  "  Mr.  May,  speak  the  word,  and  we  '11  have 
Jerry  out."  "  And  what  will  you  do  with  him,"  I  re 
plied,  "  when  you  get  him  out  1  You  have  just  seen  the 
bad  effect  of  one  ill-advised  attempt  to  rescue  him. 
Wait  until  proper  arrangements  are  made.  Stay  near 
here  to  help  at  the  right  moment  and  in  the  right  way. 
In  a  little  while  it  will  be  quite  dark,  and  then  the  poor 
fellow  can  be  easily  disposed  of." 

Presently  the  Chief  of  the  Police  came  to  me,  and 
said,  "  Jerry  is  in  a  perfect  rage,  a  fury  of  passion ;  do 
come  in  and  see  if  you  can  quiet  him."  So  I  followed 
into  the  little  room  where  he  was  confined.  He  was  in 
deed  a  horrible  object.  I  was  left  alone  with  him,  and 
sat  down  by  his  side.  So  soon  as  I  could  get  him  to 
hear  me,  I  said,  "  Jerry,  do  try  to  be  calm."  "  Would 
you  be  calm,"  he  roared  out,  "  with  these  irons  on  you  1 
What  have  I  done  to  be  treated  so?  Take  off  these 
handcuffs,  and  then  if  I  do  not  fight  my  way  through 
these  fellows  that  have  got  me  here,  —  then  you  may 
make  me  a  slave."  Thus  he  raved  on,  until  in  a  mo 
mentary  interval  I  whispered,  "  Jerry,  we  are  going  to 
rescue  you  ;  do  be  more  quiet  !  "  "  Who  are  you  1 "  he 
cried.  "  How  do  I  know  you  can  or  will  rescue  me  1 " 
After  a  while  I  told  him  by  snatches  what  we  meant  to 
do,  who  I  was,  and  how  many  there  were  who  had  come 
resolved  to  save  him  from  slavery.  At  length  he  seemed 
to  believe  me,  became  more  tranquil,  and  consented  to 
lie  down,  so  I  left  him.  Immediately  after  I  went  to 


THE  RESCUE   OF  JERRY.  377 

the  office  of  the  late  Dr.  Hiram  Hoyt,  where  I  found 
twenty  or  thirty  picked  men  laying  a  plan  for  the  rescue. 
Among  them  was  Gerrit  Smith,  who  happened  to  be  in 
town  attending  the  Liberty  Party  Convention.  It  was 
agreed  that  a  skilful  and  bold  driver  in  a  strong  buggy, 
with  the  fleetest  horse  to  be  got  in  the  city,  should  be 
stationed  not  far  off  to  receive  Jerry,  when  he  should  be 
brought  out.  Then  to  drive  hither  and  thither  about 
the  city  until  he  saw  no  one  pursuing  him ;  not  to  at 
tempt  to  get  out  of  town,  because  it  was  reported  that 
every  exit  was  well  guarded,  but  to  return  to  a  certain 
point  near  the  centre  of  the  city,  where  he  would  find 
two  men  waiting  to  receive  his  charge.  With  them  he 
was  to  leave  Jerry,  and  know  nothing  about  the  place  of 
his  retreat. 

At  a  given  signal  the  doors  and  windows  of  the  police 
office  were  to  be  demolished  at  once,  and  the  rescuers  to 
rush  in  and  fill  the  room,  press  around  and  upon  the  offi 
cers,  overwhelming  them  by  their  numbers,  not  by  blows, 
and  so  soon  as  they  were  confined  and  powerless  by  the 
pressure  of  bodies  about  them,  several  men  were  to  take 
up  Jerry  and  bear  him  to  the  buggy  aforesaid.  Strict 
injunctions  were  given,  and  it  was  agreed  not  intention 
ally  to  injure  the  policemen.  Gerrit  Smith  and  several 
others  pressed  this  caution  very  urgently  upon  those  who 
were  gathered  in  Dr.  Hoyt's  office.  And  the  last  thing 
I  said  as  we  were  coming  away  was,  "  If  any  one  is  to  be 
injured  in  this  fray,  I  hope  it  may  be  one  of  our  own 
party." 

The  plan  laid  down  as  I  have  sketched  it  was  well 
and  quickly  executed,  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening. 
The  police  office  was  soon  in  our  possession.  One  officer 
in  a  fright  jumped  out  of  a  window  and  seriously  injured 
himself.  Another  officer  fired  a  pistol  and  slightly 
wounded  one  of  the  rescuers.  With  these  exceptions 


378  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

there  were  no  personal  injuries.  The  driver  of  the 
buggy  managed  adroitly,  escaped  all  pursuers,  and  about 
nine  o'clock  delivered  Jerry  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Jason 
S.  Hoyt  and  Mr.  James  Davis.  They  led  him  not  many 
steps  to  the  house  of  the  late  Caleb  Davis,  who  with  his 
wife  promptly  consented  to  give  the  poor  fellow  a  shelter 
in  their  house,  at  the  corner  of  Genesee  and  Orange 
Streets,  Here  they  at  once  cut  off  his  shackles,  and 
after  some  refreshing  food  put  him  to  bed.  Now  the 
excitement  was  over,  Jerry  was  utterly  exhausted,  and 
soon  became  very  feverish.  A  physician  was  called,  who 
dressed  his  wounds  and  administered  such  medicine  as 
was  applicable.  But  rest,  sleep,  was  what  he  needed,  and 
he  enjoyed  them  undisturbed  for  five  days, — only  four  or 
five  persons,  besides  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davis,  knowing  what 
had  become  of  Jerry.  It  was  generally  supposed  he  had 
gone  to  Canada.  But  the  next  Sunday  evening,  just  after 
dark,  a  covered  wagon  with  a  span  of  very  fleet  horses 
was  seen  standing  for  a  few  minutes  near  the  door  of  Mr. 
Caleb  Davis's  house.  Mr.  Jason  S.  Hoyt  and  Mr.  James 
Davis  were  seen  to  help  a  somewhat  infirm  man  into  the 
vehicle,  jump  in  themselves,  and  start  off  at  a  rapid  rate. 
Suspicion  was  awakened,  and  several  of  the  "patriots"  of 
our  city  set  off  in  pursuit  of  the  "  traitors."  The  chase 
was  a  hot  one  for  eight  or  ten  miles,  but  Jerry's  deliv 
erers  had  the  advantage  on  the  start,  and  in  the  speed 
of  the  horses  that  were  bearing  him  to  liberty.  They 
took  him  that  night  about  twenty  miles  to  the  house  of 
a  Mr.  Ames,  a  Quaker,  in  the  town  of  Mexico.  There 
he  was  kept  concealed  several  days,  and  then  conveyed 
to  the  house  of  a  Mr.  Clarke,  on  the  confines  of  the  city 
of  Oswego.  This  gentleman  searched  diligently  nearly  a 
week  for  a  vessel  that  would  take  Jerry  across  to  the 
dominions  of  the  British  Queen.  He  dared  not  trust  a 
Yankee  captain,  and  the  English  vessels  were  so  narrowly 


THE  RESCUE   OF  JERRY.  379 

watched,  that  it  was  not  until  several  days  had  elapsed 
that  he  was  able  to  find  one  who  would  undertake  to 
transport  a  fugitive  slave  over  the  lake.  At  length  the 
captain  of  a  small  craft  agreed  to  set  sail  after  dark,  and 
when  well  oft'  on  the  lake  to  hoist  a  light  to  the  top  of 
his  mast,  that  his  whereabouts  might  be  known.  Mr. 
Clarke  took  Jerry  to  a  less  frequented  part  of  the  shore, 
embarked  with  him  in  a  small  boat,  and  rowed  him  to 
the  little  schooner  of  the  friendly  captain.  By  him  he 
was  taken  to  Kingston,  where  he  soon-was  established 
again  in  the  business  of  a  cooper.  Not  many  days  after 
his  arrival  there  we  received  a  letter  from  him,  express 
ing  in  the  warmest  terms  his  gratitude  for  what  the 
Abolitionists  in  Syracuse  had  done  in  his  behalf.  After 
pouring  out  a  heartful  of  thanks  to  us,  he  assured  us 
that  he  had  been  led  to  think  more  than  ever  before  of 
his  indebtedness  to  God,  —  the  ultimate  Source  of  all 
goodness,  —  and  had  been  brought  to  the  resolution  to 
lead  a  purer,  better  life  than  he  had  ever  done.  We 
heard  afterwards  that  he  was  well  married,  and  was 
living  comfortably  and  respectably.  But,  ere  the  fourth 
year  of  his  deliverance  had  closed,  he  was  borne  away 
to  that  world  where  there  never  was  and  never  will  be 
a  slaveholder  nor  a  slave. 

Foiled  in  their  attempt  to  lay  a  tribute  at  the  feet  of 
the  Southern  oligarchy,  the  officers  of  the  United  States 
Government  set  about  to  punish  us  "  traitors,"  who  had 
evinced  so  much  more  regard  for  "  the  rights  of  man  con 
ferred  by  God  "  than  for  a  wicked  law  enacted  by  Con 
gress.  Eighteen  of  us  were  indicted.  The  accusation 
was  brought  before  Judge  Conkling  at  Auburn.  Thither, 
therefore,  the  accused  were  taken.  But  we  went  accom 
panied  by  nearly  a  hundred  of  our  fellow-citizens,  many 
of  them  the  most  prominent  men  of  Syracuse,  with  not 
a  few  ladies.  So  soon  as  the  indictment  was  granted, 


380  ANTISLAVEEY   CONFLICT. 

and  bailors  called  for,  Hon.  William  H.  Seward  stepped 
forward  and  put  his  name  first  upon  the  bond.  His  good 
example  was  promptly  followed,  and  the  required  amount 
was  quickly  pledged,  by  a  number  of  our  most  responsible 
gentlemen.  Mr.  Seward  then  invited  the  rescuers  of 
Jerry  and  their  friends,  especially  the  ladies,  to  his  house, 
where  all  were  hospitably  entertained  until  it  was  time 
for  us  to  return  to  Syracuse. 

But  the  hand  of  law  was  not  laid  upon  the  friends  of 
Jerry  alone.  James  Lear,  the  agent  of  his  claimant,  and 
the  Deputy  Marshal  who  assisted  him,  were  arrested  on 
warrants  for  attempting  to  kidnap  a  citizen  of  Syracuse. 
They,  however,  easily  escaped  conviction  on  the  plea 
that  they  were  acting  under  a  law  of  the  United  States. 

Many  of  the  political  newspapers  were  emphatic  in 
their  condemnation  of  our  resistance  to  the  law,  and  only 
a  few  ventured  to  justify  it.  The  Advertiser  and  The 
American  of  Rochester,  The  Gazette  and  Observer  of  Utica, 
The  Oneida  Whig,  The  Register,  The  Argus,  and  The  Ex 
press  of  Albany,  The  Courier  and  Inquirer  and  The  Ex 
press  of  New  York,  although  of  opposite  political  parties, 
were  agreed  in  pronouncing  "  the  rescue  of  Jerry  a  dis 
graceful,  demoralizing,  and  alarming  act." 

A  mass  convention  of  the  citizens  of  Onondaga  County, 
called  to  consider  the  propriety  of  the  rescue,  met  in  our 
City  Hall  on  the  1 5th  of  October,  and  with  entire  una 
nimity  passed  a  series  of  resolutions  fully  justifying  and 
applauding  the  deed. 

Ten  days  afterwards,  an  opposing  convention  of  the 
city  and  county  was  held  in  the  same  place,  and  sent 
forth  an  opposite  opinion,  but  not  without  dissent. 

In  one  of  our  city  papers  I  was  called  out  by  three  of 
my  fellow-citizens  as  the  one  more  responsible  than  any 
other  for  the  rescue  of  Jerry,  and  was  challenged  to  justify 
such  an  open  defiance  of  a  law  of  my  country.  Thus 


THE  RESCUE  OF  JERRY.          381 

was  the  subject  kept  before  the  public,  and  the  questions 
involved  in  it  were  pretty  thoroughly  discussed. 

Meanwhile  the  United  States  District  Attorney  was 
not  neglectful  of  his  official  duty.  He  summoned  several 
of  the  indicted  ones  to  trial  at  Buffalo,  at  Albany,  and  at 
Canandaigua.  But  he  did  not  obtain  a  conviction  in  either 
case.  Gerrit  Smith,  Charles  A.  Wheaton,  and  myself 
published  in  the  papers  an  acknowledgment  that  we  had 
assisted  all  we  could  in  the  rescue  of  Jerry  ;  that  we  \\ero 
ready  for  trial ;  would  give  the  Court  no  trouble  as  to  the 
fact,  and  should  rest  our  defence  upon  the  unconstitu 
tionally  and  extreme  wickedness  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law.  The  Attorney  did  not,  however,  see  fit  to  bring 
the  matter  to  that  test.  He  brought  a  poor  colored  man 
—  Enoch  Reed  —  to  trial  at  Albany,  and  summoned  mo 
as  one  of  the  witnesses  against  him.  When  called  to  the 
stand  to  tell  the  jury  all  that  I  knew  of  Mr.  Reed's  par 
ticipation  in  the  rescue,  I  testified  that  I  saw  him  doing 
what  hundreds  of  others  did  or  attempted  to  do,  and 
that  he  was  not  particularly  conspicuous  in  that  good 
work.  The  Attorney  was  much  offanded.  He  assured 
the  Judge  that  I  knew  much  more  about  the  matter  than 
I  had  told  the  jury,  and  requested  him  to  remind  me  of 
my  oath  to  tell  the  whole  truth.  When  the  Court  had 
so  admonished  me,  I  bowed  and  said :  "  May  it  please 
your  Honor,  I  do  know  all  about  the  rescue  of  Jerry  ; 
and  if  the  prosecuting  officer  will  arraign  Gerrit  Smith 
Charles  A.  Wheaton  or  myself,  I  shall  have  occasion 
to  tell  the  jury  all  about  the  transaction.  I  have  now 
truly  given  the  jury  all  the  testimony  I  have  to  give  re 
specting  the  prisoner  at  the  bar." 

Of  course  Enoch  Reed  was  acquitted,  and  no  other  one 
of  those  indicted  was  convicted.  The  last  attempt  to 
procure  a  conviction  was  made  at  Canandaigua,  before 
Judge  Hall,  of  the  United  States  District  Court,  in  the 


382  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

autumn  of  1852.  A  few  days  before  the  setting  of  that 
Court,  Mr.  Gerrit  Smith  sent  copies  of  a  handbill  to  be 
distributed  in  that  village  and  the  surrounding  country, 
announcing  that  he  would  be  in  Canandaigua  at  the  time 
of  the  Court,  and  speak  to  the  people  who  might  assemble 
to  hear  him,  on  the  atrocious  wickedness  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law. 

On  his  arrival  at  Canandaigua,  Mr.  Smith  found  all  the 
public  buildings  closed  against  him.  He  therefore  re 
quested  that  a  wagon  might  be  drawn  into  an  adjoining 
pasture,  and  notice  given  that  he  would  speak  there.  At 
the  appointed  hour  a  large  assembly  had  gathered  to 
hear  him.  He  addressed  them  in  his  most  impressive 
manner.  He  exposed  fully  the  great  iniquity  that  was 
about  to  be  attempted  in  the  court-room  hard  by,  —  the 
iniquity  of  sentencing  a  man  as  guilty  of  a  crime  for 
doing  that  which,  in  the  sight  of  God,  was  innocent, 
praiseworthy,  —  yes,  required  by  the  Golden  Rule.  He 
argued  to  the  jurors,  who  might  be  in  the  crowd  sur 
rounding  him,  that,  whatever  might  be  the  testimony 
given  them  to  prove  that  Jerry  was  a  slave  ;  whatever 
words  might  be  quoted  from  statutes  or  constitutions  to 
show  that  a  man  can  be  by  law  turned  into  a  slave,  a 
chattel,  the  property  of  another  man,  they  nevertheless 
might,  with  a  good  conscience,  bring  in  a  verdict  acquit 
ting  any  one  of  crime,  who  should  be  accused  befofe  them 
of  having  helped  to  rescue  a  fellow-man  from  those  who 
would  make  him  a  slave.  "  If,"  said  he,  "  the  ablest 
lawyer  should  argue  before  you,  and  quote  authorities  to 
prove  that  an  article  which  you  know  to  be  wood  is 
stone  or  iron,  would  you  consent  to  regard  it  as  stone  or 
iron,  and  bring  in  a  verdict  based  upon  such  a  supposi 
tion,  even  though  the  judge  in  his  charge  should  instruct 
you  so  to  do  1  I  trust  not.  So  neither  should  any  argu 
ment  or  amount  of  testimony  or  weight  of  authorities 


THE  RESCUE   OF  JERRY.  383 

satisfy  you  that  a  man  is  a  chattel.     Jurors  cannot  be 
bound  more  than  other  persons  to  believe  an  absurdity." 

The  United  States  Attorney,  Mr.  Garvin,  found  that 
he  could  not  empanel  a  jury  upon  which  there  were  not 
several  who  had  formed  an  opinion  against  the  law.  So 
he  let  all  the  "  Jerry  Rescue  Causes  "  fall  to  the  ground 
forever. 

At  the  time  of  this  his  boldest,  most  defiant  act,  Mr. 
Smith  was  a  member  of  Congress.  For  this  reason  "  his 
contempt  of  the  Court,"  "  his  disrespect  for  the  forms  of 
law,  the  precedents  of  judicial  decisions,  and  the  authority 
of  the  constitution,"  was  pronounced  by  "  the  wise  and 
prudent"  to  be  the  more  shameful,  mischievous,  and 
alarming.  But  "  the  common  people  "  could  not  be  easily 
convinced  that  any  wrong  could  be  so  great  as  enslaving 
a  man,  nor  that  it  was  criminal  to  help  him  escape  from 
servile  bondage. 

My  readers  will  readily  believe  that  we  exulted  not  a 
little  in  the  triumph  of  our  exploit.  For  several  years 
afterwards  we  celebrated  the  1st  of  October  as  the  anni 
versary  of  the  greatest  event  in  the  history  of  Syracuse. 
Either  because,  in  1852,  there  was  no  hall  in  our  city  ca 
pacious  enough  to  accommodate  so  large  a  meeting  as  we 
expected,  or  else  because  we  could  not  obtain  the  most 
capacious  hall,  —  for  one  or  the  other  of  these  reasons,  — 
the  first  anniversary  of  the  Rescue  of  Jerry  was  cele 
brated  in  the  rotunda  of  the  New  York  Central  Railroad, 
just  then  completed  for  the  accommodation  of  the  en 
gines.  John  Wilkinson,  Esq.,  at  that  time  President  of 
the  road,  promptly,  and  without  our  solicitation,  proffered 
the  use  of  the  building,  large  enough  to  hold  thousands. 
It  was  well  filled.  Gerrit  Smith  presided,  and  the 
speeches  made  by  him,  by  Mr.  Garrison,  and  other  promi 
nent  Abolitionists,  together  with  the  letters  of  congratula 
tion  received  from  Hon.  Charles  Sumuer,  Rev.  Theodore 


384  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

Parker,  and  others,  would  fill  a  volume,  half  the  size  of 
this,  with  the  most  exalted  political  and  moral  senti 
ments,  and  not  a  few  passages  of  sublime  eloquence. 

After  our  triumph  over  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  we 
Abolitionists  in  Central  New  York  enjoyed  for  several 
years  a  season  of  comparative  peace.  We  held  our 
regular  and  our  occasional  antislavery  meetings  without 
molestation,  and  were  encouraged  in  the  belief  that  our 
sentiments  were  coming  to  be  more  generally  received. 
The  Republican  party  was  evidently  bound  to  become  an 
abolition  party.  Hon.  Charles  Sumner  was  doing  ex 
cellent  service  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and 
Hon.  Henry  Wilson  and  others  in  Congress  were  sec 
onding  his  efforts,  to  bring  the  legislators  of  our  nation 
to  see  and  own  that  the  institution  of  slavery  was  ut 
terly  incompatible  with  a  free,  democratic  government, 
and  irreconcilable  with  the  Christian  religion. 

Still  we  could  perceive  no  signs  of  repentance  in  the 
slaveholding  States,  and  had  despaired  of  a  peaceful 
settlement  of  the  great  controversy.  How  soon  the  ap 
peal  to  the  arbitrament  of  war  would  come  we  could  not 
predict ;  but  we  saw  it  to  be  inevitable.  All,  therefore, 
that  remained  for  the  friends  of  our  country  and  of  hu 
manity  to  do,  was  diligently  to  disseminate  throughout  the 
non-slaveholding  States  a  just  appreciation  of  the  great 
question  at  issue  between  the  North  and  the  South ;  a 
true  respect  for  the  God-given  rights  of  man,  which  our 
nation  had  so  impiously  dared  to  trample  upon  ;  and  the 
sincere  belief  that  nothing  less  than  the  extermination  of 
slavery  from  our  borders  could  insure  the  true  union  of 
the  States  and  the  prosperity  of  our  Republic.  To  this 
work  of  patriotism,  as  well  as  benevolence,  therefore,  we 
addressed  ourselves  so  long  as  the  terrible  chastisement 
which  our  nation  had  incurred  was  delayed. 

Wellnigh  exhausted  by  my  unremitted  attention  to 


SCOTCH  ABOLITIONISTS.  385 

the  duties  of  iny  profession,  and  to  the  several  great  re 
forms  that  have  signalized  the  last  fifty  years,  I  was  per 
suaded  to  go  to  Europe  for  recreation  and  the  recovery 
of  my  health.  I  spent  six  months  of  the  year  1859  on 
the  Continent,  and  three  months  in  England,  Scotland, 
and  Ireland. 

Numerous  as  are  the  interesting  places  and  persons  to 
be  seen  in  each  of  these  last-named  countries,  I  must  con 
fess  that  my  greatest  attraction  to  them  was  the  expecta 
tion  of  seeing  many  of  the  friends  of  liberty,  who  had  co 
operated  so  generously  with  us  for  the  abolition  of  slav 
ery.  And  in  this  respect  I  was  not  disappointed.  I 
lectured  by  request  to  large  audiences  in  several  of  the 
chief  cities  of  the  kingdom.  But,  what  was  much  better, 
I  had  meetings  for  conversation  with  the  prominent 
Abolitionists,  especially  in  London,  Glasgow,  and  Dublin. 
These  were  numerously  attended,  and  the  intelligent 
questions  put  to  me,  by  those  who  were  so  well  informed 
and  so  deeply  interested  in  the  cause  of  my  enslaved 
countrymen,  saved  me  from  misspending  a  minute  on 
the  commonplaces  of  the  subject,  and  led  me  to  give  our 
friends  the  most  recent  information  of  the  kinds  they 
craved. 

I  remember  particularly  the  conversations  that  I  had 
in  Glasgow  and  Dublin.  The  former  was  held  in  the 
ample,  well-stored  library  room  of  Professor  Nichol  of 
the  University  of  that  city.  His  wife  was,  a  few  years 
before,  Miss  Elizabeth  Pease,  one  of  the  earliest,  best-in 
formed,  and  most  liberal  of  our  English  fellow-laborers. 
He  promptly  concurred  with  her  in  cordially  inviting  me 
to  his  home.  And  on  my  second  or  third  visit,  he  had 
gathered  there  to  meet  me  the  prominent  Abolitionists 
of  the  city  and  immediate  neighborhood.  He  presided 
at  the  meeting,  and  introduced  me  in  a  most  comprehen 
sive  and  impressive  speech  on  human  freedom,  —  the 
17  T 


386  ANTISLAVERY   CONFLICT. 

paramount  right  of  man,  —  of  all  men,  —  demanding 
protection  wherever  it  was  denied  or  endangered  from 
all  who  can  give  it  aid,  without  consideration  of  distance 
or  nationality.  That  well-spent  evening  I  shall  never 
forget,  especially  his  and  his  wife's  contributions  of  wise 
thought  and  elevated  sentiment.  But  my  too  brief  per 
sonal  acquaintance  with  them  is  kept  more  sacred  in  my 
memory  by  his  death,  which  happened  soon  after,  and 
an  intensely  interesting  incident  connected  with  it. 

At  Dublin  and  its  vicinity  I  spent  a  fortnight,  — 
too  short  a  time.  But  I  had  the  happiness,  while  there, 
of  seeing  face  to  face  several  of  our  warm-hearted  sym 
pathizers  and  active  co-laborers,  especially  James  Haugh- 
ton,  Esq.,  and  Richard  D.  Webb.  The  former  I  found 
to  be  more  engaged  in  the  cause  of  Peace,  and  much 
more  of  Temperance,  than  in  the  antislavery  cause.  In 
deed,  in  the  cause  of  Temperance  he  had  done  then,  and 
has  done  since,  more  than  any  other  man  in  Ireland,  ex 
cepting  Father  Matthew.  Still,  he  had  always  been,  and 
was  then,  heartily  in  earnest  for  the  abolition  of  slavery 
everywhere. 

But  Richard  D.  Webb  could  hardly  have  taken  a  more 
active  part  with  American  Abolitionists,  or  have  ren 
dered  us  much  more  valuable  services,  if  he  had  been  a 
countryman  of  ours,  and  living  in  our  midst.  The  readers 
of  The  Liberator  cannot  have  forgotten  how  often  commu 
nications  from  his  pen  appeared  in  its  columns,  nor  how 
thorough  an  acquaintance  they  evinced  with  whatever 
pertained  to  our  conflict  with  "  the  peculiar  institution," 
that  great  anomaly  in  our  democracy.  Mr.  Webb  was 
afterwards  the  author  of  an  excellent  memoir  of  John 
Brown,  whose  "soul  is  still  marching  on,"  —  the  spirit 
of  whose  hatred  of  oppression,  and  sympathy  with  the 
down-trodden,  is  spreading  wider  and  descending  deeper 
into  the  hearts  of  our  people,  and  will  continue  so  to 


JOHN  BROWN.  387 

spread,  until  every  vestige  of  slavery  shall  be  effaced  from 
our  land,  and  all  the  inhabitants  thereof  shall  enjoy 
equal  rights  and  privileges  on  the  same  conditions.  Mr. 
Webb's  memoir  shows  how  justly  he  appreciated  and 
how  heartily  he  admired  the  intentions  of  John  Brown, 
whatever  he  thought  of  the  expediency  of  his  plan  of 
operations.  For  a  week  I  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of 
Mrs.  Edmundson,  and  at  her  house  met  one  evening 
many  of  the  moral  elite  of  Dublin,  for  conversation  re 
specting  the  conflict  with  slavery  in  our  country.  Their 
inquiries  showed  them  to  be  very  well  informed  on  the 
subject,  and  alive  to  whatever  then  seemed  likely  to  af 
fect  the  issue  favorably  or  unfavorably. 

Lord  Morpeth,  who  was  at  that  time  Lord  Lieutenant 
of  Ireland,  graciously  invited  me  to  lunch  with  him. 
He  had  visited  our  country  a  few  years  before,  and  had 
manifested  while  here  the  deepest  interest  in  the  prin 
ciples  and  purposes  of  the  Abolitionists.  I  was  delight 
ed  to  find  that  he  and  his  sister,  Lady  Howard,  continued 
to  be  as  much  concerned  as  ever  for  our  success. 

On  my  retuni  from  Europe,  early  in  November,  1859, 
the  steamer  stopped  as  usual  at  Halifax.  There  we 
first  received  the  tidings  of  John  Brown's  raid,  and  the 
failure  of  his  enterprise.  I  felt  at  once  that  it  was  "  the 
beginning  of  the  end "  of  our  conflict  with  slavery. 
There  were  several  Southern  gentlemen  and  ladies 
among  our  fellow- passengers,  and  Northern  sympathizers 
with  them,  as  well  as  others  of  opposite  opinions.  Dur 
ing  our  short  passage  from  Halifax  to  Boston  there  was 
evidently  a  deep  excitement  in  many  bosoms.  Occasion 
ally  words  of  bitter  execration  escaped  the  lips  of  one 
and  another  of  the  proslavery  party.  But  there  was  no 
dispute  or  general  conversation  upon  the  subject.  The 
event,  of  which  we  had  just  heard,  was  a  portent  of  too 
much  magnitude  to  be  hastily  estimated,  and  the  conse 
quences  thereof  flippantly  foretold. 


388  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

On  my  arrival  in  Boston,  and  the  next  day  in  Syra 
cuse,  I  found  the  public  in  a  state  of  high  excitement ; 
and  for  two  or  three  months  the  case  of  John  Brown 
was  the  subject  of  continual  debate  in  private  circles  as 
well  as  public  meetings.  The  murmurs  and  threats  that 
came  daily  from  the  South,  intimated  plainly  enough 
that  the  slaveholding  oligarchy  were  preparing  for  some 
thing  harsher  than  a  war  of  words.  They  were  gath 
ering  themselves  to  rule  or  ruin  our  Republic.  Under 
the  imbecile  administration  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  the  Secre 
tary  of  War,  John  B.  Floyd,  could  do  as  he  saw  fit  in 
his  department.  It  was  observed  that  the  arms  and 
ammunition  of  the  nation,  with  the  greater  part  of  the 
small  army  needed  in  times  of  peace,  were  removed  and 
disposed  of  in  such  places  as  would  make  them  most 
available  to  the  Southerners,  if  the  emergency  for  which 
they  were  preparing  should  come.  They  awaited  only 
the  issue  of  the  next  presidential  contest.  The  first  ten 
months  of  the  year  1860  were  given  to  that  contest. 
All  the  strength  of  the  two  political  parties  was  put  in 
requisition,  drawn  out,  and  fully  tested  and  compared. 
And  when  victory  crowned  the  friends  of  freedom  and 
human  rights,  —  when  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
proclaimed,  —  then  came  forth  from  the  South  the  fierce 
cry  of  disunion,  and  the  standard  of  a  new  Confederacy 
was  set  up.  It  is  not  my  intention  to  enter  upon  the 
period  of  our  Civil  War.  These  Recollections  will  close 
with  occurrences  before  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter. 

In  pursuance  of  a  plan  adopted  several  years  before, 
by  the  American  Antislavery  Society,  arrangements  were 
made  early  in  December,  1860,  to  hold  our  annual  con 
ventions  during  the  months  of  January  and  February,  in 
Buffalo,  Syracuse,  Albany,  and  in  a  dozen  other  of  the 
principal  cities  and  villages  between  the  two  extremes. 
We  who  had  devoted  ourselves  so  assiduously  for  a  quar- 


NEW  PERSECUTIONS.  380 

ter  of  a  century  or  more  to  the  subversion  of  the  slavery 
in  our  land,  of  course  had  many  thoughts  and  feelings 
upon  the  subject  at  that  time,  which  pressed  for  utter 
ance.  We  were  the  last  persons  who  could  be  indiffer 
ent  to  the  state  of  our  country  in  1860,  or  be  silent  in 
view  of  it.  Nor  had  we  any  reason  then  to  suppose  that 
our  counsels  and  admonitions  would  be  particularly  un 
acceptable  to  the  people,  as  we  were  then  frequently 
assured  that  the  public  sentiment  of  New  York,  as  well 
as  New  England,  had  become  quite  antislavery. 

We  were  not  a  little  surprised,  therefore,  at  the  new  out 
break  of  violent  opposition  in  Boston,  and  afterwards  in 
Buffalo  and  other  places.  About  the  middle  of  January 
I  attended  the  convention  at  Rochester,  where  we  were 
rudely  treated  and  grossly  insulted.  I  could  no  longer 
doubt  that  there  was  a  concerted  plan,  among  the  Demo 
crats  everywhere,  to  evince  a  revival  of  their  zeal,  in  be 
half  of  their  Southern  partisans  by  breaking  up  our 
meetings.  And  it  appeared  that  the  Republicans  were 
afraid  to  take  the  responsibility,  and  incur  the  new 
odium  of  protecting  our  conventions  in  their  constitu 
tional  rights.  Still  I  hoped  better  things  of  Syracuse. 

But  a  few  days  before  the  time  appointed  for  our  Con 
vention,  I  was  earnestly  requested  by  the  Mayor  of  the 
city  to  prevent  the  holding  of  such  a  meeting.  I  replied 
I  would  do  so,  if  there  was  indeed  so  little  respect  for 
the  liberty  of  speech  in  Syracuse  that  the  assembly 
would  be  violently  dispersed.  In  answer  to  this,  his 
Honor  assured  me  that,  much  as  he  wished  we  would 
forbear  to  exercise  our  undoubted  right,  still,  if  we  felt 
it  to  be  our  duty  to  hold  the  convention,  "  he  would 
fearlessly  use  every  means  at  his  command  to  secure 
order,  and  to  prevent  any  interference  with  our  proceed 
ings."  Thus  he  tool$  from  me  the  only  apology  I  could 
offer  to  our  Committee  of  Arrangements  for  interposing 


390  ANTISIAVERY  CONFLICT. 

to  prevent  the  assembling  of  a  meeting,  which  they  had 
called  in  accordance  with  the  duty  assigned  them. 

A  day  or  two  afterwards  I  received  a  letter,  written 
probably  at  the  solicitation  of  the  Mayor,  and  signed  by 
twenty  of  the  most  respectable  gentlemen  of  Syracuse 
(ten  of  them  prominent  members  of  my  church),  urging 
me  to  prevent  the  holding  of  the  convention,  as  "  they 
were  credibly  informed  that  an  organized  and  forcible  ef 
fort  would  be  made  to  oppose  us,  and  a  collision  might 
ensue  between  the  police  force  of  the  city  and  a  lawless 
mob."  Still,  they  assured  me  that  they  recognized  our 
right  to  hold  such  a  convention,  and  "that  they  should  be 
in  duty  bound  to  aid  in  protecting  us  if  we  did  assemble." 
I  felt  obliged  to  answer  them  very  much  as  I  had  an 
swered  the  Mayor,  and  added  what  follows  :  — 

"  In  common  with  my  associates,  I  am  very  sincere  in 
believing  that  the  principles  we  inculcate,  and  the  meas 
ures  we  advise,  are  the  only  ones  that  can  (without  war) 
extirpate  from  our  country  the  root  of  that  evil  which 
now  overshadows  us,  and  threatens  our  ruin.  We  have 
much  to  say  to  the  people,  much  that  we  deem  it  very 
important  that  they  should  hear  and  believe,  lest  they 
bow  themselves  to  another  compromise  with  the  slave- 
holding  oligarchy,  which  for  many  years  has  really  ruled 
our  Republic,  and  which  nothing  will  satisfy  but  the 
entire  subjugation  of  our  liberties  to  their  supposed 
interests. 

"  We  perceive  that  the  '  strong '  men  of  the  Repub 
lican  party  are  trembling,  and  concession  and  compro 
mise  are  coming  to  be  their  policy.  We  deprecate  their 
fears,  their  want  of  confidence  in  moral  principle  and  in 
God.  We  therefore  feel  deeply  urged  to  cry  aloud,  and 
warn  the  people  of  the  snare  into  which  politicians  would 
lead  them.  We  are  bound  at  least  to  offer  to  them  the 
word  of  truth,  whether  they  will  hear  or  whether  they 
will  forbear. 


RIOT  AT   SYRACUSE.  391 

"  If,  gentlemen,  you  had  assured  me  that  our  proposed 
meeting  will  be  violently  assaulted ;  that  those  who 
may  assemble  peacefully  to  listen  will  not  be  allowed  to 
hear  us ;  that  they  will  be  dispersed  with  insult  if  not 
with  personal  injury  ;  and  that  you,  gentlemen  of  influ 
ence  as  you  are,  shall  stand  aside  and  let  the  violent  have 
their  way ;  then  I  should  have  felt  it  to  be  incumbent 
on  me  to  advertise  the  friends  of  liberty  and  humanity 
that  it  would  not  be  worth  their  while  to  convene  here, 
as  it  would  be  only  to  be  dispersed. 

"But,  gentlemen,  as  you  generously  'affirm,'  in  the 
letter  before  me,  *  that  your  duties  as  citizens  will  re 
quire  you  to  aid  in  extending  protection  to  our  conven 
tion,  in  case  it  shall  be  convened,  in  the  exercise  of  all 
the  rights  which  all  deliberative  bodies  may  claim,'  and 
as  the  Mayor  of  our  city  has  assured  me  that  'he  shall 
fearlessly  use  every  means  at  his  command  to  secure 
order  and  to  prevent  any  interference  with  our  proceed 
ings,'  I  should  not  be  justified  in  assuming  the  responsi 
bility  of  postponing  the  convention.  For,  gentlemen,  if 
you  will  do  what  you  acknowledge  to  be  your  duty,  and 
if  the  Mayor  will  fulfil  his  generous  promise,  I  am  con 
fident  the  rioters  will  be  overawed,  the  liberty  of  speech 
will  be  vindicated,  and  our  city  rescued  from  a  deep  dis 
grace. 

"  Yours,  gentlemen,  In  great  haste,  but  very  respect 
fully, 

"SAMUEL  J.  MAY." 

Just  before  the  hour  appointed  for  the  opening  of  the 
convention,  on  the  29th  of  January,  1861, 1  went  to  the 
hall  which  I  had  hired  for  its  accommodation.  It  was  al 
ready  fully  occupied  by  the  rioters.  A  meeting  had  been 
organized,  and  the  chairman  was  making  his  introductory 
speech.  So  soon  as  he  had  finished  it,  I  addressed  him : 


392  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

"  Mr.  Chairman,  there  is  some  mistake  here,  or  a  greater 
-wrong.  More  than  a  week  ago  I  engaged  this  hall  for 
our  Annual  Antislavery  Convention  to  be  held  at  this 
hour."  Immediately,  several  rough  men  turned  violent 
ly  upon  me,  touched  my  head  and  face  with  their  doubled 
fists,  and  swore  they  would  knock  me  down,  and  thrust 
me  out  of  the  hall,  if  I  said  another  word.  Meanwhile, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Strieby,  of  the  Plymouth  Church,  had  suc 
ceeded  in  getting  upon  the  platform,  and  had  commenced 
a  remonstrance,  when  he  was  set  upon  in  like  manner, 
and  threatened  with  being  thrown  down  and  put  out,  if 
he  did  not  desist  at  once. 

The  only  police  officer  that  I  saw  in  the  hall  soon  after 
rose,  addressed  the  chairman  and  said :  "  I  came  here, 
Sir,  by  order  of  the  Mayor,  who  had  heard  that  there  was 
to  be  a  disturbance,  and  that  the  liberty  of  speech  would 
be  outraged  here.  But  I  see  no  indications  of  such  an 
intended  wrong.  The  meeting  seems  to  me  to  be  an 
orderly  one,  properly  organized.  I  approve  the  objects  of 
the  meeting  as  set  forth  in  your  introductory  speech,  and 
trust  you  will  have  a  quiet  time." 

Thus  dispossessed,  we  of  course  retired,  and,  after  con 
sultation,  agreed  to  gather  as  many  of  the  members  of 
the  intended  convention,  as  could  be  found,  at  the  dwell 
ing-house  of  Dr.  R.  W.  Pease,  who  generously  proffered 
us  the  use  of  it.  A  large  number  of  ladies  and  gentlemen 
assembled  there  early  in  the  evening,  and  were  duly  or 
ganized.  Pertinent  and  impressive  addresses  were  made 
by  Beriah  Green,  Aaron  M.  Powell,  Susan  B.  Anthony, 
C.  D.  B.  Mills,  and  others,  after  which  a  series  of  resolu 
tions  was  passed,  of  which  the  following  were  the  most 
important  :  — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  only  escape  for  nations,  as  well  as  indi 
viduals,  from  sin  and  its  consequences,  is  by  the  way  of  un 
feigned  repentance;  and  that  our  proud  Republic  must  go 


RIOT  AT   SYRACUSE.  393 

down  in  ruin,  unless  the  people  shall  be  brought  to  repent 
ance,  —  shall  be  persuaded  to  '  cease  to  do  evil,  and  learn  to 
do  well;  to  seek  justice,  relieve  the  oppressed,'  Compromises 
with  the  wrong-doers  will  only  plunge  us  deeper  in  their  in 
iquity.  Civil  war  will  not  settle  the  difficulty,  but  complicate 
it  all  the  more,  and  superadd  rapine  and  murder  to  the  sin  of 
slaveholding.  The  dissolution  of  the  Union,  even,  may  not 
relieve  us ;  for  if  slavery  still  remains  in  the  land,  it  will  be  a 
perpetual  trouble  to  the  inhabitants  thereof,  whether  they  be 
separate  or  whether  they  be  united;  slavery  must  be  abolished, 
or  there  can  be  no  peace  within  these  borders. 

"  Resolved,  That  our  General  Government  ought  to  abolish 
all  Fugitive  Slave  Laws;  for,  unless  they  can  dethrone  God,  the 
people  will  ever  be  under  higher  obligations  to  obey  him  than 
to  obey  any  laws,  any  constitutions  that  men  may  have  framed 
and  enacted.  And  the  law  of  God  requires  us  to  befriend  the 
friendless,  to  succor  the  distressed,  to  hide  the  outcast,  to  de 
liver  the  oppressed. 

"  Resolved,  That  as  the  people  of  the  free  States  have  from 
the  beginning  been  partakers  in  the  iniquity  of  slavery, — ac 
complices  of  the  oppressors  of  the  poor  laborers  at  the  South, 
—  therefore  we  ought  to  join  hands  with  them  in  any  well-de 
vised  measures  for  the  emancipation  of  their  bondmen.  Our 
wealth  and  the  wealth  of  the  nation  ought  to  be  put  in  req 
uisition,  to  relieve  those  who  may  impoverish  themselves  by 
setting  their  captives  free  ;  to  furnish  the  freed  men  with  such 
comforts,  conveniences,  implements  of  labor  as  they  may  need ; 
and  to  establish  such  educational  and  religious  institutions  as 
will  be  indispensable  everywhere,  to  enable  them,  and,  yet 
more,  their  children  and  children's  children,  to  become  what 
the  free  people,  the  citizens  of  self-governing  states,  ought  to 
be,  —  intelligent,  moral,  religious. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  abolition  of  slavery  is  the  great  concern 
of  the  American  people, — '  the  one  thing  needful '  for  them,  — 
without  which  there  can  be  no  union,  no  peace,  no  political  vir 
tue,  no  real,  lasting  prosperity  in  all  these  once  United  States. 

"  Resolved,  That,  so  far  from  its  being  untimely  or  inappro 
priate  to  stand  forth  for  unpopular  truths,  in  seasons  of  great 
popular  excitement,  apprehension,  and  wide  passionate  denial 
17* 


394  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

of  them,  it  is  then  pre-eminently  timely,  appropriate,  and  all 
vitally  important,  whether  regarded  in  view  of  the  paramount 
obligations  of  fealty  to  the  Supreme  King,  or  the  sacred  con 
siderations  of  the  redemption  and  welfare  of  mankind ;  and  as 
it  behooved  then  most  of  all  to  speak  for  Jesus,  when  Jesus  was 
arraigned  for  condemnation  and  crucifixion,  as  it  has  ever  been 
the  bounden  and,  sooner  or  later,  the  well-acknowledged  duty 
of  every  friend  of  the  truth  in  past  history  to  stand  firm,  and 
ever  firmer  in  its  behalf,  amid  whatever  wave  of  passion,  malig 
nity,  and  madness,  even  though  the  multitude  all  shout,  Cru 
cify  !  and  devils  be  gathered  thick  as  tiles  on  the  house-tops  of 
Worms  to  devour ;  so  at  the  present  hour  it  sacredly  behooves 
Abolitionists  to  abide  fast  by  their  principles,  and  in  the  very 
midst  of  the  present  storm  of  passion  and  insane  folly,  in  face 
of  every  assault,  whether  of  threat  or  infliction,  to  speak  for 
the  slave  and  for  man  ;  and,  with  an  earnestness  and  pointed 
emphasis  unknown  before,  to  press  home  upon  their  country 
men  the  question  daily  becoming  more  imminent  and  vital, 
whether  the  few  vestiges  of  freedom  yet  remaining  shall  be 
blotted  out,  and  this  entire  land  overswept  with  tyranny,  vio 
lence,  and  blood." 

The  members  of  the  Convention  refused  to  make  any 
further  attempt  to  hold  a  public  meeting,  but  the  citizens 
who  were  present  at  Dr.  Pease's  house  resolved  to  at 
tempt  a  meeting  the  next  forenoon  in  the  hall  from  which 
the  convention  had  been  expelled,  for  the  express  pur 
pose  of  testing  the  faithfulness  of  the  city  authorities, 
and  manifesting  a  just  indignation  at  the  outrage  which 
had  been  perpetrated  in  our  midst  upon  some  of  the 
fundamental  rights  of  a  free  people.  But  the  attempt 
was  frustrated  by  the  same  rioters  that  had  ruled  the 
day  before. 

And  the  following  night  the  mob  celebrated  their  too 
successful  onslaught  upon  popular  liberty  by  a  procession 
led  by  a  band  of  music,  with  transparent  banners,  bear 
ing  these  inscriptions  :  — 


RIOT   AT   SYRACUSE.  395 

"  FREEDOM  OF  SPEECH,  BUT  NOT  TREASON." 
"  THE  RIGHTS  OF  THE  SOUTH  MUST  BE  PROTECTED." 
*'  ABOLITIONISM  NO  LONGER  IN  SYRACUSE." 
li  THE  JERRY  RESCUERS  PLAYED  OUT." 

Prominently  in  the  procession  there  were  carried  two 
large-sized  effigies,  —  one  of  a  man  the  other  of  a  woman, 
—  the  former  bearing  my  name,  the  latter  Miss  An 
thony's.  After  parading  through  some  of  the  principal 
streets,  the  procession  repaired  to  Hanover  Square,  the 
centre  of  the  business  part  of  our  city,  and  there  amid 
shouts,  hootings,  mingled  with  disgusting  profanity  and 
ribaldry,  the  effigies  were  burned  up ;  but  not  the  great 
realities  for  which  we  were  contending. 

For  more  than  thirty  years  the  Abolitionists  had  been 
endeavoring  to  rouse  the  people  to  exterminate  slavery 
by  moral,  ecclesiastical,  and  political  instrumentalities, 
urging  them  to  their  duty  by  every  religious  considera 
tion,  and  by  reiterating  the  solemn  admonition  of  Thomas 
Jeiferson,  that  "  If  they  would  not  liberate  the  enslaved 
in  the  land  by  the  generous  energies  of  their  own  minds 
and  hearts,  the  slaves  would  be  liberated  by  the  awful 
processes  of  civil  and  servile  war."  But  the  counsels  of 
the  Abolitionists  were  spurned,  their  sentiments  and 
purposes  were  shamelessly  misrepresented,  their  charac 
ters  traduced,  their  property  destroyed,  their  persons 
maltreated.  And  lo !  our  country,  favored  of  Heaven 
above  all  others,  was  given  up  to  fratricidal,  parricidal, 
and  for  a  while  we  feared  it  would  be  suicidal  war. 

God  be  praised  !  the  threatened  dissolution  of  our 
Union  was  averted.  But  discord  still  reigns  in  the  land. 
Our  country  is  not  surely  saved.  It  was  right  that  our 
Federal  Government  should  be  forbearing  in  their  treat- 


396  ANTISLAVERY  CONFLICT. 

ment  of  the  Southern  Rebels,  because  the  people  of 
the  North  had  been,  to  so  great  an  extent,  their  partners 
in  the  enslavement  of  our  fellow-men,  that  it  would 
have  ill  become  us  to  have  punished  them  condignly. 
But  our  Government  has  been  guilty  of  great  injustice 
to  the  colored  population  of  the  South,  who  were  all 
loyal  throughout  the  war.  These  should  not  have  been 
left  as  they  have  been,  in  a  great  measure,  at  the  mercy 
of  their  former  masters.  Homes  and  adequate  portions 
of  the  land  (they  so  long  had  cultivated  without  com 
pensation)  ought  to  have  been  secured  to  every  family  of 
the  Freedmen,  and  some  provision  for  their  education 
should  have  been  made.  With  these  and  the  elective, 
franchise  conferred  upon  them,  the  Freedmen  might 
safely  have  been  left  to  maintain  themselves  in  their  new 
condition,  and  work  themselves  out  of  the  evils  that 
were  enforced  upon  them  by  their  long  enslavement. 

May  the  sad  experience  of  the  past  prompt  and  impel 
our  nation,  before  it  be  too  late,  to  do  all  for  the  colored 
population  of  our  country,  South  and  North,  that 
righteousness  demands  at  our  hands. 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX  I. 

ON  page  137  I  have  alluded  to  Hon.  J".  G-.  Palfrey.  He 
evinced  his  respect  for  the  rights  of  man  by  an  act  which  was 
incomparably  more  significant  and  convincing  than  the  most 
eloquent  words  could  have  been.  On  the  death  of  his  father, 
who  was  a  slaveholder  in  Louisiana,  he  became  heir  to  one 
third  of  the  estate,  comprising  about  fifty  slaves.  His  co-heirs 
would  readily  have  taken  his  share  of  these  chattels  and  have 
given  him  an  equivalent  in  land  or  money.  But  he  was  too 
conscientious  to  consent  to  such  a  bargain.  If  his  portion  of 
his  father's  bondmen  should  thereafter  continue  in  slavery,  it 
must  be  by  an  act  of  his  own  will,  and  involve  him  in  the 
crime  of  making  merchandise  of  men.  From  this  his  whole 
soul  revolted.  Accordingly,  he  requested  that  such  a  division 
of  the  slaves  might  be  made  as  would  put  the  largest  number 
of  them  into  his  share.  The  money  value  of  the  women, 
children,  and  old  men  being  much  less  than  that  of  the  able- 
bodied  men,  twenty-two  of  the  slaves  were  assigned  to  him. 
I  presume  their  market  value  could  not  have  been  less  than 
nine  thousand  dollars.  All  of  them  were  brought  on,  at  Mr. 
Palfrey's  expense,  from  Louisiana  to  Massachusetts. 

Assisted  by  his  Abolitionist  friends,  especially  Mrs.  L.  M. 
Child,  Mrs.  E.  G-.  Loring,  and  the  Hathaways  of  Farmington, 
N.  Y.,  and  their  Quaker  friends,  he  succeeded  after  a  while  in 
getting  them  all  well  situated  in  good  families,  where  the  old 
were  kindly  cared  for,  the  able-bodied  adults  were  employed 
and  duly  remunerated  for  their  labors,  and  the  young  were 
brought  up  to  be  worthy  and  useful.  It  has  been  my  happi- 


398  APPENDIX. 

ness  to  be  personally  acquainted  with  some  of  them  and  their 
friends,  and  to  know  that  what  I  have  stated  above  is  true. 
Their  transportation  from  Louisiana  to  Massachusetts ;  their 
maintenance  here  until  places  were  found  for  them ;  and  their 
removal  to  their  several  homes,  must  have  cost  Mr.  Palfrey 
several  hundred  dollars,  —  I  suppose  eight  or  ten  hundred.  If 
so,  he  nobly  sacrificed  ten  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  his  pat 
rimony  to  his  sense  of  right  and  his  love  of  liberty. 

In  1847  this  excellent  man  was  elected  a  Representative 
of  Massachusetts  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  As 
those  who  knew  him  best  confidently  expected,  he  early  took 
high  antislavery  ground  there. 

The  following  are  extracts  from  his  first  speech  in  Congress : 
"  The  question  is  not  at  all  between  North  and  South,  but 
between  the  many  millions  of  non-slaveholding  Americans, 
North,  South,  East,  and  West,  and  the  very  few  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  their  fellow-citizens  who  hold  slaves.  It  is  time 
that  this  idea  of  a  geographical  distinction  of  parties,  with 
relation  to  this  subject,  was  abandoned.  It  has  no  substantial 
foundation.  Freedom,  with  its  fair  train  of  boundless  bless 
ings  for  white  and  black,  —  slavery,  with  its  untold  miseries 

for  both,  —  these  are  the  two  parties  in  the  field 

I  will  now  only  express  my  deliberate  and  undoubting  con 
viction,  that  the  time  has  quite  gone  by  when  the  friends  of 
slavery  might  hope  anything  from  an  attempt  to  move  the 
South  to  disunion  for  its  defence I  do  not  be 
lieve  it  is  good  policy  for  the  slaveholders  to  let  their  neigh 
bors  hear  them  talk  of  disunion.  Unless  I  read  very  stu 
pidly  the  signs  of  the  times,  it  will  not  be  the  Union  they 
will  thus  endanger,  but  the  interest  to  which  they  would  sacrifice 
it.  If  they  insist  that  the  Union  and  slavery  cannot  live  to 
gether,  they  may  be  taken  at  their  word,  but  IT  is  THE  UNION 

THAT  MUST  STAND." 

At  its  close,  the  Hon.  J".  Q.  Adams  is  reported  to  have  ex 
claimed  :  "  Thank  God  the  seal  is  broken  !  Lord,  now  lettest 
thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace."  And  "  the  old  man  elo 
quent  "  died  at  his  post  a  month  afterwards. 


APPENDIX.  399 


APPENDIX  II. 

ON  page  147  I  have  named,  among  other  members  of  the 
Society  of  Friends  who  gave  us  efficient  support  in  the  day 
when  we  most  needed  help,  Nathaniel  Barney,  then  of 
Nantucket.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  immediate 
Abolitionists,  was  most  explicit  and  fearless  in  the  avowal 
of  his  sentiments,  most  consistent  and  conscientious  in  acting 
accordingly  with  them.  He  denounced  "  the  prejudice  against 
color  as  opposed  to  every  precept  and  principle  of  the  Gos 
pel,"  and  said,  "  It  betrays  a  littleness  of  soul  to  which,  when 
it  is  rightly  considered,  an  honorable  mind  can  never  descend." 
Therefore,  he  would  not  ride  in  a  stage-coach  or  other  public 
conveyance,  from  which  an  applicant  for  a  seat  was  excluded 
because  of  his  complexion. 

He  was  a  stockholder  in  the  New  Bedford  and  Taunton 
Railroad.  In  1842  he  learned  that  colored  persons  were  ex 
cluded  from  the  cars  on  that  road.  Immediately  he  sent  an 
admirable  letter,  dated  April  14,  1842,  to  the  New  Bedford 
Mercury  for  publication,  condemning  such  proscription.  It 
was  refused.  He  then  offered  it  to  the  Bulletin,  where  it  was 
likewise  rejected.  At  length  it  appeared  in  the  New  Bedford 
Morning  Register,  and  was  worthy  of  being  republished  in 
every  respectable  newspaper  in  our  country.  In  it  he  said : 
"  The  thought  never  entered  my  mind,  when  I  advocated  a 
liberal  subscription  to  that  railroad  among  our  citizens,  that  I 
was  contributing  to  a  structure  where,  in  coming  years,  should 
be  exhibited  a  cowardice  and  despotism  which  I  know  the 
better  feelings  of  the  proprietors  would,  on  reflection,  repudi 
ate I  cannot  conscientiously  withdraw  the  little  I  in 
vested,  neither  can  I  sell  my  share  of  the  stock  of  this  road, 
while  the  existing  prescriptive  character  attaches  to  it ;  and 
with  my  present  views  and  feelings,  so  long  as  the  privileges 
of  the  traveller  are  suspended  on  one  of  the  accidents  of  hu 
manity,  I  should  be  recreant  to  every  principle  of  propriety 
and  justice,  were  I  to  receive  aught  of  the  price  which  the  di 
rectors  attach  to  them.  In  the  exclusion,  therefore,  by  the 
established  rules  of  one  equally  entitled  with  myself  to  a  seat, 


400  APPENDIX. 

I  am  excluded  from  any  share  of  the  money,  —  the  profit  of 
said  infraction  of  right." 

Surely,  the  name  of  such  a  man  ought  to  be  handed  down 
to  our  posterity  to  be  duly  honored, when  the  great  and  mean 
iniquity  of  our  nation  shall  be  abhorred. 


APPENDIX  III. 

SPEECH  of  Gerrit  Smith,  referred  to  on  page  169.  I  have 
omitted  a  few  passages  for  want  of  room. 

"  On  returning  home  from  Utica  last  night,  my  mind  was  so 
much  excited  with  the  horrid  scenes  of  the  day,  and  the  fright 
ful  encroachments  made  on  the  right  of  free  discussion,  that  I 
could  not  sleep,  and  at  three  o'clock  I  left  my  bed  and  drafted 
this  resolution :  — 

"  'Resolved,  That  the  right  of  free  discussion,  given  to  us  by 
God,  and  asserted  and  guarded  by  the  laws  of  our  country,  is 
a  right  so  vital  to  man's  freedom  and  dignity  and  usefulness, 
that  we  can  never  be  guilty  of  its  surrender,  without  consent 
ing  to  exchange  that  freedom  for  slavery,  and  that  dignity  and 
usefulness  for  debasement  and  worthlessness.' 

"  I  love  our  free  and  happy  government,  but  not  because  it 
confers  any  new  rights  upon  us.  Our  rights  spring  from  a 
nobler  source  than  human  constitutions  and  governments,  — 
from  the  favor  of  Almighty  God. 

"  We  are  not  indebted  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  or  of  this  State,  for  the  right  of  free  discussion.  We 
are  thankful  that  they  have  hedged  it  about  with  so  noble  a 
defence.  We  are  thankful,  I  say,  that  they  have  neither  re 
strained  nor  abridged  it ;  but  we  owe  them  no  thanks  for  our 
possession  of  rights  which  God  gave  us.  And  the  proof  that 
he  gave  them  is  in  the  fact  that  he  requires  us  to  exercise  them. 

"  When,  then,  this  right  of  free  discussion  is  invaded,  this 
home-bred  right,  which  is  yours,  and  is  mine,  and  belongs  to 
every  member  of  the  human  family,  it  is  an  invasion  of  some 
thing  which  was  not  obtained  by  human  concession,  some- 


APPENDIX.  401 

thing  as  old  as  our  own  being,  a  part  of  the  original  man,  a 
component  portion  of  our  own  identity,  something  which  we 
cannot  be  deprived  of  without  dismemberment,  something 
which  we  never  can  deprive  ourselves  of  without  ceasing  to 
be  MEN. 

"  This  right,  so  sacred  and  essential,  is  now  sought  to  be 

trammelled,  and  is  in   fact  virtually  denied Men  in 

denying  this  right  are  not  only  guilty  of  violating  the  Con 
stitution,  and  destroying  the  blessings  bought  by  the  blood 
and  toil  of  our  fathers,  but  guilty  of  making  war  with  God 
himself.  I  want  to  see  this  right  placed  on  this  true,  this  in 
finitely  high  ground,  as  a  DIVINE  right.  I  want  to  see  men 
defend  it  and  exercise  it  with  that  belief.  I  want  to  see  men 
determined  to  maintain,  to  their  extremest  boundaries,  all  the 
rights  which  God  has  given  them  for  their  enjoyment,  their 
dignity,  and  their  usefulness. 

"  "We  are  even  now  threatened  with  legislative  restrictions 
on  this  right.  Let  us  tell  our  legislators,  in  advance,  that  we 
cannot  bear  any.  The  man  who  attempts  to  interpose  such  re 
strictions  does  a  grievous  wrong  to  God  and  man,  which  we 
cannot  bear.  Submit  to  this,  and  we  are  no  longer  what  God 
made  us  to  be,  —  MEN.  Laws  to  gag  men's  mouths,  to  seal  up 
their  lips,  to  freeze  up  the  warm  gushings  of  the  heart,  are  laws 
which  the  free  spirit  cannot  brook ;  they  are  laws  contrary 
alike  to  the  nature  of  man  and  the  commands  of  God ;  laws 
destructive  of  human  happiness  and  the  divine  constitution ; 
and  before  God  and  man  they  are  null  and  void.  They  de 
feat  the  very  purposes  for  which  God  made  man,  and  throw 
him  mindless,  helpless,  and  worthless  at  the  feet  of  the  op 
pressor. 

"  And  for  what  purpose  are  we  called  to  throw  down  our 
pens,  and  seal  up  our  lips,  and  sacrifice  our  influence  over  our 
fellow-men  by  the  use  of  free  discussion  ?  If  it  were  for  an 
object  of  benevolence  that  we  are  called  to  renounce  that  free 
dom  of  speech  with  which  God  made  us,  there  would  be  some 
color  of  fitness  in  the  demand ;  but  such  a  sacrifice  the  cause 
of  truth  and  mercy  never  calls  us  to  make.  That  cause  requires 
the  exertion,  not  the  suppression,  of  our  noblest  powers.  But 

z 


402  APPENDIX. 

here  we  are  called  on  to  degrade  and  unman  ourselves,  and  to 
withhold  from  our  fellow-men  that  influence  which  we  ought 
to  exercise  for  their  good.  And  for  what  ?  I  will  tell  you  for 
what.  That  the  oppressed  may  lie  more  passive  at  the  feet  of 
the  oppressor;  that  one  sixth  of  our  American  people  may 
never  know  their  rights;  that  two  and  a  half  millions  of  our 
countrymen,  crushed  in  the  cruel  folds  of  slavery,  may  remain 
in  all  their  misery  and  despair,  without  pity  and  without  hope. 

"  For  such  a  purpose,  so  wickeU,  so  inexpressibly  mean,  the 
Southern  slaveholder  calls  on  us  to  lie  down  like  whipped  and 
trembling  spaniels  at  his  feet.  Our  reply  is  this :  Our  repub 
lican  spirits  cannot  submit  to  such  conditions.  God  did  not 
make  us,  Jesus  did  not  redeem  us,  for  such  vile  and  sinful 
uses. 

"  I  knew  before  that  slavery  would  not  survive  free  discus 
sion.  But  the  demands  recently  put  forth  by  the  South  for 
our  surrender  of  the  right  of  discussion,  and  the  avowed 
reasons  of  that  demand,  involve  a  full  concession  of  this  fact, 
that  free  discussion  is  incompatible  with  slavery.  The  South, 
by  her  own  showing,  admits  that  slavery  cannot  live  unless 
the  North  is  tongue-tied.  Now  you,  and  I,  and  all  these 
Abolitionists,  have  two  objections  to  this :  One  is,  we  desire 
and  purpose  to  employ  all  our  influence  lawfully  and  kindly 
and,  temperately  to  deliver  our  Southern  brethren  from  bond 
age,  and  never  to  give  rest  to  our  lips  or  our  pens  till  it  is  ac 
complished.  The  other  objection  is  that  we  are  not  willing 
to  be  slaves  ourselves.  The  enormous  and  insolent  demands 
put  forth  by  the  South  show  us  that  the  question  is  now,  not 
only  whether  the  blacks  shall  continue  to  be  slaves,  but 
whether  our  necks  shall  come  under  the  yoke.  While  we  are 
trying  to  break  it  off  from  others,  we  are  called  to  see  to  it 
that  it  is  not  fastened  on  our  own  necks  also. 

"  It  is  said  :  '  The  South  will  not  molest  our  liberty  if  we  will 
not  molest  their  slavery  ;  they  do  not  wish  to  restrict  us  if  we 
will  cease  to  speak  of  their  peculiar  institution.'  Our  liberty  is 
not  our  ex  gratia  privilege,  conceded  to  us  by  the  South,  and 
which  we  are  to  have  more  or  less,  as  they  please  to  allow.  No, 
sir !  The  liberty  which  the  South  proffers  us,  to  speak  and  write 
and  print,  if  we  do  not  touch  that  subject,  is  a  liberty  we  do  not 


APPENDIX.  403 

ask,  a  liberty  which  we  do  not  accept,  but  which  we  scornfully 
reject. 

"It  is  not  to  be  disguised,  sir,  that  war  has  broken  out  be 
tween  the  South  and  the  North,  not  easily  to  be  terminated. 
Political  and  commercial  men,  for  their  own  purposes,  are  in 
dustriously  striving  to  restore  peace;  but  the  peace  which 
they  may  accomplish  will  be  superficial  and  hollow.  True 
and  permanent  peace  can  only  be  restored  by  removing  the 
cause  of  the  war,  —  that  is,  slavery.  It  can  never  be  estab 
lished  on  any  other  terms.  The  sword  now  drawn  will  not 
be  sheathed  until  that  deep  and  damning  stain  is  washed  out 
from  our  nation.  It  is  idle,  criminal,  to  speak  of  peace  on  any 
other  terms. 

"  Whom  shall  we  muster  on  our  side  in  this  great  battle  be 
tween  liberty  and  slavery  ?  The  many  never  will  muster  in 
such  a  cause,  until  they  first  see  unequivocal  signs  of  its  triumph. 
We  don't  want  the  many,  but  the  true-hearted,  who  are  not 
skilled  in  the  weapons  of  carnal  warfare.  We  don't  want  the 
politicians,  who,  to  secure  the  votes  of  the  South,  care  not  if 
slavery  is  perpetual.  We  don't  want  the  merchant,  who,  to 
secure  the  custom  of  the  South,  is  willing  to  applaud  slavery, 
and  leave  his  countrymen,  and  their  children,  and  their  chil 
dren's  children  to  the  tender  mercies  of  slavery  forever. 

"  We  want  only  one  class  of  men  for  this  warfare.  Be  that 
class  ever  so  small,  we  want  only  those  who  will  stand  on  the 
rock  of  Christian  principle.  We  want  men  who  can  defend 
the  right  of  free  discussion  on  the  ground  that  God  gave  it. 
We  want  men  who  will  act  with  unyielding  honesty  and 
firmness.  We  have  room  for  all  such,  but  no  room  for  the 
time-serving  and  selfish." 


APPENDIX  IT. 

NOTWITHSTANDING  the  caution  I  have  given  my  readers  in 
the  Preface  and  elsewhere,  not  to  expect  in  this  volume  any 
thing  like  a  complete  history  of  our  antislavery  conflict,  many 


404  APPENDIX. 

may  be  disappointed  in  not  finding  any  acknowledgment  of 
the  services  of  some  whom  they  have  known  as  efficient, 
brave,  self-sacrificing  laborers  in  our  cause.  I  was  reproached, 
accused  of  ingratitude  and  injustice,  because  I  did  not  give 
in  my  articles  in  The  Christian  Register  any  account  of  the 
labors  of  certain  persons,  whose  names  stand  high  on  the  roll 
of  antislavery  philanthropists.  The  following  is  a  copy  of  a 
part  of  one  of  the  letters  that  I  received  :  — 

BOSTON,  April,  1868. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  The  writer  of  this  is  a  subscriber  to  The 
Christian  Register,  and  has  there  read  your  "  Reminiscences 
of  the  Antislavery  Reformers."  The  numbers  thus  far  (in 
cluding  the  thirty-eighth)  contain  no  notice  of,  or  allusion  to, 
our  late  lamented  friend,  Nathaniel  P.  Rogers,  editor  of  The 
Herald  of  Freedom.  His  numerous  friends  in  New  England 
have  been  waiting  and  wondering  that  his  name  did  not  appear 
in  your  papers.  Mr.  Rogers  gave  up  a  lucrative  profession,  in 
which  he  had  attained  a  high  rank,  and  devoted  himself  soul, 
body,  and  estate,  to  the  service  of  the  antislavery  cause,  in  which 
he  labored  conscientiously  during  the  rest  of  his  life,  and  left 
his  family  impoverished  in  consequence.  That  Mr.  Rogers  was 
one  of  the  few  most  talented  Abolitionists  no  one  will  deny  who 
knew  them  ;  and  that  he  was  the  intimate  friend  and  fellow- 
laborer  of  Mr.  Garrison  was  equally  well  known.  He  went 
to  Europe  with  Mr.  Garrison,  and  together  they  visited  the 
most  distinguished  Abolitionists  in  England  and  Scotland ;  and, 
after  his  return,  George  Thompson,  on  his  first  visit  to  this 
country,  was  received  by  him  in  his  family,  and  passed 
several  days  with  him. 

You  have  mentioned  many  names  in  your  papers  quite  ob 
scure,  and  of  very  little  account  in  this  movement,  and  why 
you  have  thus  far  omitted  one  of  such  prominence  has  puzzled 
many  of  your  readers. 

Notwithstanding,  the  writer  will  not  allow  himself  to  doubt 
that  it  is  your  intention  in  the  end  to  do  to  all  equal  and  ex 
act  JUSTICE. 

I  cordially  indorse  my  unknown  correspondent's  eulogium 
of  Nathaniel  P.  Rogers.  I  remember  hearing  much  of  his 


APPENDIX.  405 

faithfulness  and  fearlessness  in  the  cause  of  our  enslaved  coun 
trymen,  and  of  liberty  of  speech  and  of  the  press.  Between 
the  years  1836  and  1846  he  wrote  much,  and  so  well  that  his 
articles  in  the  Herald  of  Freedom  were  often  republished  in 
the  Antislavery  Standard  and  Liberator,  I  generally  read 
them  with  great  satisfaction.  They  were  racy,  spicy,  and  un 
sparing  of  anything  he  deemed  wrong.  Mr.  Rogers,  I  have 
no  doubt,  rendered  very  important  services  to  the  antislavery 
cause,  especially  in  New  Hampshire,  and  was  held  in  the 
highest  esteem  by  the  Abolitionists  of  that  State.  But  it  was 
not  my  good  fortune  to  know  much  of  him  personally.  I 
seldom  saw  him,  and  never  heard  him  speak  in  any  of  our 
meetings  more  than  two  or  three  times.  The  only  reason 
why  I  have  only  named  him  is  that  I  really  have  no  personal 
recollections  of  him.  A  volume  of  his  writings,  prefaced  by 
a  sketch  of  his  life  and  character  from  the  pen  of  Rev.  John- 
Pierpont,  was  published  in  1847  and  republished  in  1849.  It 
will  repay  any  one  for  an  attentive  perusal,  and  help  not  a 
little  to  a  knowledge  of  the  temper  of  the  times,  —  the  spirit 
of  the  State  and  the  Church,  —  when  N.  P.  Rogers  labored, 
sacrificed,  and  suffered  for  impartial  liberty,  for  personal,  civil, 
and  religious  freedom.  The  fact  that  he  was  a  lineal  descend 
ant  of  the  never-to-be-forgotten  Rev.  John  Rogers  —  the 
martyr  of  Smithfield  —  and  also  one  of  the  Peabody  race,  will 
add  to  the  interest  with  which  his  writings  will  be  read. 


APPENDIX  V. 

AN  intimation  is  given  on  page  272  that  I  have  known 
some  remarkable  colored  women.  I  wish  my  readers  had 
seen,  in  her  best  days,  Sojourner  Truth.  She  was  a  tall, 
gaunt,  very  black  person,  who  made  her  appearance  in  our 
meetings  at  an  early  period.  Though  then  advanced  in  life, 
she  was  very  vigorous  in  body  and  mind.  She  was  a  slave 
in  New  York  State,  from  her  birth  in  1787  until  the  abolition 
of  slavery  in  that  State  in  1827,  and  had  never  been  taught 
to  read.  But  she  was  deeply  religious.  She  had  a  glowing 


406  APPENDIX. 

faith  in  the  power,  wisdom,  and  goodness  of  God.  She  had 
had  such  a  full  experience  of  the  wrongs  of  slavery,  that  she 
could  not  believe  they  were  permitted  by  God.  She  was 
sure  He  must  hate  them,  and  would  destroy  those  who  per 
sisted  in  perpetrating  them.  She  often  spoke  in  our  meet 
ings,  never  uttering  many  sentences,  but  always  such  as  were 
pertinent,  impressive,  and  sometimes  thrilling. 


APPENDIX  VI. 

ON  page  283  I  have  spoken  of  Harriet  Tubman.  She  de 
serves  to  be  placed  first  on  the  list  of  American  heroines. 
Having  escaped  from  slavery  twenty-two  years  ago,  she  set 
about  devising  ways  and  means  to  help  her  kindred  and  ac 
quaintances  out  of  bondage.  She  first  succeeded  in  leading 
off  her  brother,  with  his  wife  and  several  children.  Then  she 
helped  her  aged  parents  from  slavery  in  Virginia  to  a  free 
and  comfortable  home  in  Auburn,  N.  Y.  Thus  encouraged 
she  continued  for  several  years  her  semi-annual  raids  into  the 
Southern  plantations.  Twelve  or  fifteen  times  she  went. 
Most  adroitly  did  she  evade  the  patrols  and  the  pursuers. 
Very  large  sums  of  money  were  offered  for  her  capture,  but 
in  vain.  She  succeeded  in  assisting  nearly  two  hundred  per 
sons  to  escape  from  slavery. 

When  the  war  broke  out  she  felt,  as  she  said,  that  "  the 
good  Lord  has  come  down  to  deliver  my  people,  and  I  must 
go  and  help  him."  She  went  into  Georgia  and  Florida,  at 
tached  herself  to  the  army,  performed  an  incredible  amount 
of  labor  as  a  cook,  a  laundress,  and  a  nurse,  still  more  as  the 
leader  of  soldiers  in  scouting  parties  and  raids.  She  seemed 
to  know  no  fear  and  scarcely  ever  fatigue.  They  called  her 
their  Moses.  And  several  of  the  officers  testified  that  her 
services  were  of  so  great  value,  that  she  was  entitled  to  a 
pension  from  the  Government.  The  life  of  this  remarkable 
woman  has  been  written  by  a  lady,  —  Mrs.  Bradford,  —  and 
published  in  Auburn,  N.  Y.  I  hope  many  of  my  readers 
will  procure  copies  of  it,  that  they  may  know  more  about 
Harriet  Tubman. 


APPENDIX.  407 


APPENDIX  VII. 

THE  saddest,  most  astounding  evidence  of  the  demoraliza 
tion  of  our  Northern  citizens  in  respect  to  slavery,  and  of  Mr. 
Webster's  depraving  influence  upon  them,  is  given  in  the  fol 
lowing  letter  addressed  to  him  soon  after  the  delivery  of  his 
gpeech  on  the  7th  of  March,  —  signed  by  eight  hundred  of  the 
prominent  citizens  of  Massachusetts.  I  have  given  the  names 
of  a  few  as  specimens  of  the  whole. 

From  the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser  of  April  2, 1850. 
To  THE  Hox.  DANIEL  WEBSTER  : 

SIR,  —  Impressed  with  the  magnitude  and  importance  of 
the  service  to  the  Constitution  and  the  Union  which  you 
have  rendered  by  your  recent  speech  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  we  desire  to  express 
to  you  our  deep  obligation  for  what  this  speech  has  done  and 
is  doing  to  enlighten  the  public  mind,  and  to  bring  the  present 
crisis  in  our  national  affairs  to  a  fortunate  and  peaceful  ter 
mination.  As  citizens  of  the  United  States,  we  wish  to  thank 
you  for  recalling  us  to  our  duties  under  the  Constitution,  and 
for  the  broad,  national,  and  patriotic  views  which  you  have 
sent  with  the  weight  of  your  great  authority,  and  with  the 
power  of  your  unanswerable  reasoning  into  every  corner  of 
the  Union. 

It  is,  permit  us  to  say,  sir,  no  common  good  which  you  have 
thus  done  for  the  country.  In  a  time  of  almost  unprecedented 
excitement,  when  the  minds  of  men  have  been  bewildered  by 
an  apparent  conflict  of  duties,  and  when  multitudes  have  been 
unable  to  find  solid  ground  on  which  to  rest  with  security  and 
peace,  you  have  pointed  out  to  a  whole  people  the  path  of 
duty,  have  convinced  the  understanding  and  touched  the  con 
science  of  a  nation.  You  have  met  this  great  exigency  as  a 
patriot  and  a  statesman,  and  although  the  debt  of  gratitude 
which  the  people  of  this  country  owe  to  you  was  large  before, 
you  have  increased  it  by  a  peculiar  service,  which  is  felt 
throughout  the  land. 

We  desire,  therefore,  to  express  to  you  our  entire  concur- 


403  APPENDIX. 

rence  in  the  sentiments  of  your  speech,  and  our  heartfelt  thanks 
for  the  inestimable  aid  it  has  afforded  towards  the  preservation 
and  perpetuation  of  the  Union.  For  this  purpose,  we  respect 
fully  present  to  you  this,  our  Address  of  thanks  and  congratu 
lation,  in  reference  to  this  most  interesting  and  important  oc 
casion  in  your  public  life. 

We  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  the  highest  respect, 

Your  obedient  servants, 

T.  H.  PERKINS,  J.  W.  PAGE, 

CHARLES  C.  PARSONS,  THOMAS  C.  AMORY, 

THOMAS  B.  WALES,  BENJ.  LORING, 

CALEB  LORING,  GILES  LODGE, 

WM.  APPLETON,  WM.  P.  MASON, 

JAMES  SAVAGE,  WM.  STURGIS, 

CHARLES  P.  CURTIS,  W.  H.  PRESCOTT, 

CHARLES  JACKSON,  SAMUEL  T.  ARMSTRONG, 

GEORGE  TICKNOR,  SAMUEL  A.  ELIOT, 

BENJ.  R.  CURTIS,  JAMES  JACKSON, 

RUFUS  CHOATE,  MOSES  STUART,* 

JOSIAH  BRADLEE,  LEONARD  WOODS,* 

EDWARD  G.  LORING,  RALPH  EMERSON,* 

THOMAS  B.  CURTIS,  JARED  SPARKS,! 

FRANCIS  J.  OLIVER,  C.  C  FELTON,| 
J.  A.  LOWELL, 

And  over  seven  hundred  others. 

*  Of  the  Theological  Institution  at  Andover. 

f  President  of  Harvard  University. 

j  Professor  of  Greek  in  Harvard  University. 


THE    END. 


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